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Water leaks and subsequent mold contamination have cost the owners of Berkeley’s controversial Gaia building more than $10 million to repair, according to lawsuits filed in Alameda County Superior Court.

Those diaphanous black shrouds periodically veiling parts of Berkeley’s Gaia Building have offered mute testimony to a welter of lawsuits surrounding the building, which is owned by Gaia Building LLC, a corporate entity managed by developer Patrick Kennedy.

The owners contend that Berkeley construction firm “Kimes Morris negligently constructed the Gaia Building and negligently supplied material,” rendering the building “susceptible to water penetration” resulting in “damages due to the intrusion of water.”

According to filings in Alameda County Superior Court, construction flaws have allowed water to leak into the walls, resulting in mold contamination that has required extensive interior and exterior repairs.

The original March, 2003, suit attached no dollar amounts to the repairs. However, along with lost rents and finance charges on money borrowed to bankroll the repairs, a filing lodged with the court a year later placed the costs at $10,079,000.

According to the complaint filed by Emeryville attorney Robert R. Riggs, although Kimes Morris was notified of the water damage in December, 2002, the firm failed to accept responsibility or “correct its nonconforming work.”

Kimes Morris, headquartered next door to the Gaia Building at 2134 Allston Way, responded to the suit by denying responsibility for the claims and by filing a cross-complaint against the building’s architect and the subcontractors Kimes Morris hired to build the structure.

Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring, whose district includes the Gaia Building, said she’s had “numerous complaints” from frustrated Gaia renters complaining of leaks and other problem.

“Tenants said their rugs were being pulled up and then re-laid after absorbent baby diapers were placed underneath, and that their drywall was being replaced,” Spring said. “The worst problems were on the building’s southern side, which is the direction our rains come from.”

Spring said tenants were afraid to try to break their leases because renters are forced to sign one-year leases which give building management the right to withdraw rent money directly from their bank accounts—blocking any possibility of a rent strike.

The councilmember said she had asked city Housing Director Steven Barton to inspect all the building’s Section 8 subsidized apartments last spring, “but Kennedy was able to hold him off until summer, after the rainy season had ended.”

One of those sued by Kimes Morris was Cres DP, Inc., the San Leandro subcontractor which installed both the interior drywall and the exterior stucco—a move that provoked yet another lawsuit.

That suit by Clarendon National Insurance Company, which carried a $2 million February, 2001, warranty and negligence insurance policy on Cres, asks the court to absolve it from any obligations to either the Gaia Building or Cres because—among other things—Clarendon claims the terms of the policy excluded both stucco work and responsibility for any apartment project of more than 15 units.

Defective stucco construction has become perhaps the biggest growth sector in construction lawsuits, called by some “the new asbestos”—referring to the multibillion-dollar damage settlements resulting from the frequently fatal health problems resulting from exposure to the once commonly used inside and home siding material.

Mold problems date back to biblical times, with the Book of Leviticus spelling out remedial procedures for what was then termed “leprosy of the house.”

The remediation procedures spelled out in Leviticus are much the same as those employed today, calling for removal of the affected building material, its disposal in “some unclean place” outside the city, and installation of new wall materials and coverings.

For several months last summer and fall, a pile of wood chips next to the Gaia Building contained a warning, advising passersby that the material “may contain mold.”

Various portions of the building’s stucco and wood backing have been stripped and replaced, in some places up to three times.

The original complaint, filed in March, 2003, lists seven named and 100 yet to be named Does as defendants. Subsequent countersuits named the insurer and various unnamed Roes and Moes.

Several defendants have been released, including the roofing and painting subcontractors and a consulting engineering firm, but the principal parties remain.

Patrick Kennedy had not returned calls to the Daily Planet about the suit by press time.ª

A 25-year-old father of three became Berkeley’s first homicide victim of the year Sunday afternoon when he was felled by a hail of gunfire on the street outside his grandmother’s South Berkeley apartment, police report. Meanwhile, a Wednesday night shooting death is being attributed to the City of Albany.

Mario Jackson, known as Tiptoe to friends, was ambushed outside the building at 1317 Ashby Ave., said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies.

Starting about 4:41, police 911 dispatchers were flooded by multiple calls of “shots fired,” Okies said. Officers rushed to the scene, finding Jackson lying on a walkway and bleeding from multiple wounds.

Police rendered first aid to the victim at the scene until paramedics arrived. Jackson was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Okies said that Berkeley homicide detectives believe Jackson was shot in the parking lot to the rear of the property, then stumbled to a walkway where he fell.

Berkeley detectives are currently investigating a number of potential motives in this case, Okies said.

The officer declined to confirm published accounts of remarks from anonymous neighbors who reported seeing a man in his late teens or early 20s leap a fence and jump and run into a car waiting on Burnett Street, where a second man allegedly drove off.

Investigators are asking are anyone who knows anything about the shooting to contact the Homicide Detail at 981-5741 or e-mail tips to police@ci.berkeley.ca.us, anonymously or otherwise.

Another gunshot victim was a fatally wounded 18-year-old Richmond man whose car crashed into the Golden Gate Fields parking lot in Berkeley Wednesday night after he was shot in the head. Anthony Robinson also died at Highland Hospital Sunday but his death is not considered a Berkeley homicide.

Because Robinson was shot as he was driving southbound on Interstate 80 through Albany, the killing goes to that city’s credit.

Following Robinson’s shooting, the victim was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery and was then placed in the Intensive Care Unit, where he was pronounced dead at 9:48 p.m. Sunday, according to the Alameda County Coroner’s office.

Albany Police Lt. Mike McQuiston asked for the public’s help in locating the suspect car, “which is described as a white, late model American made vehicle, possibly a Buick Regal, with ‘spinner’ wheels, license plate unknown.”

McQuiston asked anyone with information to call his department at 525-7300.›

Relaxation isn’t just for the rich. That was the call from boycott-supporting protestors outside the Claremont Hotel Friday as the well-known health guru Deepak Chopra held a weekend seminar at the luxury resort and hotel.

Organized by the East Bay Inte rfaith Committee for Worker Justice, some 75 protestors gathered outside the Claremont’s west gate, striking warrior yoga poses and concentrating on their breathing as bemused motorists headed home.

The protestors’ main gripe was Chopra’s refusal to hono r the ongoing boycott of the hotel led by the Oakland-based Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 2850. For almost two years the union and the hotel have been in a labor dispute over a union contract.

Chopra is a leader in health and well ness programming, especially known for his mix of Eastern and Western medicine. He is a licensed medical doctor but also promotes a form of eastern holistic healing developed in India known as Ayurvedic medicine. Protestors demanded that Cho-pra, as some one concerned with health, acknowledge workers at the hotel and spa who are struggling with their own well-being, including their need for sustainable wages and affordable health care.

“We find that it is a kind of pseudo-morality that he can speak about leadership and have spas where workers don’t get health care,” said Jim Stockton, the yoga teacher leading the poses.

For eight months the Interfaith Committee has tried to meet with Chopra about the Claremont and the La Costa resort and in Carlsbad whe re his business, the Chopra Center, is based. In particular, the Interfaith Committee asked him to use his leverage with the two hotels to help settle their disputes.

After the group cornered him at a local Bay Area book signing, Chopra asked them to follow up through e-mail or phone calls but—according to the group—did not respond when they met his request.

Chopra eventually sent a letter to the group which said management at La Costa told him they were “unwilling to have [him] involved in this matter."

“If they want me involved in any mediation effort, I will be happy to participate. I can not force anyone to have me involved if it is not their desire,” he wrote.

The committee wrote back telling Chopra that his connection to management was clear an d that his excuse was re-stating the obvious because no business would want him to intervene in a labor dispute.

They summed up their position in an earlier letter by saying, “We are concerned by what we perceive to be an inconsistency between your philo sophy and your actions, specifically your business practices and partnerships. How can you preach oneness and solidarity while you are in a strategic business partnership with a corporate entity that has little to no regard for the humanness and basic dig nity of its workers?”

A representative from Chopra’s center did not return an inquiry from the Daily Planet about his position by press time.

Protestors, after winding down their yoga session, demanded to meet with Chopra, who—according to representativ es from the Claremont—was unavailable. Even after constant questioning by a nun dressed in her full garb, Claremont representatives would not budge. As protestors turned away, one lead a chant that they hope Chopra would hear.

“Who do we want?” he shouted. “Chopra!,” the crowd responded. “Who do we want,” his questioning raised to yell. “Chopra!!,” the crowd walloped.

As Berkeley charts a course to meet its goal of recycling 75 percent of its waste by 2010, it is doubtful the 32-year-old recycling drop-off center at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Dwight Avenue will be part of the plan.

A deal is in place to sell the 8,731-square-foot parcel to a father and son development team that plans to replace the recycling center with a four-story structure that includes 21 condominiums above a commercial space and 23 parking spaces.

The project has already won unanimous support from the Design Review Commission and heads to the Zoning Adjustment Board Thursday.

Prospective buyers Paul Ugenti, a San Jose businessman, and his son Paul Jr., a 2002 UC Berkeley graduate, said they hope to begin construction as soon as they get their requisite permits, probably by the end of the year. It would be their first project in Berkeley.

News of the pending sale came as a surprise to Kathy Evans of the Community Conservation Center, the nonprofit contracted to run Berkeley’s two drop-off centers. The other one is located at Second and Gilman streets.

The property has been on the market for several years since longtime owner John White died, but several bids have fallen through, Evans said, because of environmental concerns about the site, which at one time housed a gas station.

The MLK-Dwight drop-off center receives only about 840 of the city’s 17,000 tons of recyclable material a year, said City of Berkeley Recycling Program Manager Rebecca Dowdakin. However, if the condos rise, Dowdakin added, many apartment dwellers would lose access to their most convenient recycling location.

Berkeley’s curbside recycling program, run by the Ecology Center, only includes private homes and apartments with fewer than 10 units. Larger complexes, whose large bins are incompatible with the Ecology Center’s trucks, are served by a voluntary city-run program.

“A lot of buildings choose not to provide the services,” Dowdakin said. Tenants with cars can go to the city’s other drop-off center at Second and Gilman, but others wouldn’t have a viable alternative.

In the 1970s drop-off recycling centers dotted Berkeley and other nearby cities. But when Berkeley became the first city on the west coast to implement curbside recycling in 1973, drop-off centers fell out of vogue. Besides Berkeley, El Cerrito is the only East Bay town to have a recycling drop-off near the city center.

With real estate prices at a premium, and recycling centers requiring ample room for trucks to make pick-ups, Evans didn’t expect the CCC to find a new location.

“The economics of recycling don’t really work in a densely populated town,” she said.

Dowdakin said she had talked to the city’s office of economic development, but hadn’t heard of other available sites.

Last February the City Council soundly rejected a proposal from Councilmember Dona Spring to buy the lot—listed at $475,000—through increasing city refuse fees.

“Without the center, we might fall below 50 percent [of waste recycled],” said Spring. As a member of the Alameda County Waste Management Board, she added that Berkeley—which recycles slightly more than 50 percent of its waste—has fallen behind neighboring cities.

“[The city of] Alameda is recycling 63 percent of its waste and nearly every city is recycling food waste except for Berkeley,” she said.

Still, at the drop-off center Sunday, most recyclers seemed willing to haul their waste to Gilman.

“Maybe housing is more important,” said Joe Willingham. “I’d rather see a handsome building with tax-paying homeowners.”

Jim Novosel, the project’s designer, said the owners had knocked on neighbors’ doors and received positive feedback about the project.

“Can you imagine living next to a site with all those noisy trucks rumbling through?” he said.

Those interviewed appeared less upset by the loss of the recycling center than by the fourth story planned for the condominium project’s eastern half.

“It sounds like it would be way out of proportion with MLK,” said Rosemary Vimont, who lives several blocks from the recycling center. “If it were two or three stories, I could lump it, but four stories seems extreme.”

Novosel said a three-story building wouldn’t have been profitable, so he added a fourth floor to the design, thanks to a state law that grants 25 percent more space to projects that include affordable housing. Three of the 21 condominiums will be affordable, Novosel said. Final unit prices haven’t been determined, Ugenti Sr. said.

The 46-foot project will include four one-bedroom condominiums, nine two-bedroom condominiums and eight three-bedroom condominiums, a roof-top deck, parking lifts, and a ground floor commercial space.

Since the area is zoned for 35-foot buildings and the law requires structures on Dwight to be set back from the sidewalk, the project must go before the Zoning Adjustment Board for a use permit.

If the Ugentis get their permits, they will have to perform environmental mitigations during construction, said city hazardous materials specialist Geoff Fiedler. The site—a former gas station— is assumed to have contaminated soil and ground water below.

In 2003, the Bay Area Regional Water Quality Control Board signed off on a finding by the city’s toxics department that contamination of the site was not too severe to prevent properly mitigated development.

Recently, Berkeley has approved new developments above former gas stations at 1797 Shattuck Ave. and at the intersection of Solano and Colusa avenues.

At both sites, Fiedler said, unknown sources of pollution were found and treated. “The unexpected happens at these sites all the time,” he said.

The hunt for a replacement for Berkeley Fire Chief Reginald Garcia—who leaves Sept. 17—begins in earnest early next month, said City Manager Phil Kamlarz last week.

The nationwide recruiting effort will be run entirely by city staff.

“We’re looking for someone who can deal with the whole range of major issues here, including the department’s interaction with other city departments, getting the work done in a time of diminishing resources, and dealing with issues like injured homeless people on the streets,” Kamlarz said.

As with cities across the state, Berkeley faces major budget problems this fiscal year. The current city spending plan calls for reducing fire department costs by $500,000 through such measures as the elimination of an assistant chief, a training lieutenant and an associate analyst, as well as downgrading the fire marshal position to civilian status.

The City Council also asked for an additional $300,000 in cuts which would have come from voluntary pay reductions which the Firefighters Association refused to accept.

For the 2006 budget, the council adopted a plan calling for an further reductions, which would come mostly from overtime, though if voters pass a bond measure this November, the cuts would be less severe.

“There are no station closures,” said Kamlarz, “though cities like Oakland and Fremont are doing rotating closures.” Berkeley may, however, face reductions in the availability of specialized equipment.

The salary range for the chief’s position ranges from $121,000 to $166,000, with Garcia currently at the top end of the scale.

The new chief will be expected to live in or near the city, Kamlarz said.

“It’s an important job, a front line position at the head of one of the city’s most important departments, and requires a lot of flexibility,” said the city manager.

Garcia came to Berkeley in June, 1997, from the Oakland Fire Department, where he served as assistant fire chief in charge of operations. He played major roles in the Oakland department’s response to the 1991 hills fire and in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake.

The Berkeley Fire Department currently has 142 personnel in seven stations with a total of seven engines, two hook and ladder trucks, a hazardous materials truck, and three ambulances.Ã

For more than three decades, Charlie Frizzell was a cherished Homo sapiens Berkeley landmark. Whether it was shmoozing with Charlie at a party, joining him on an anti-war march, chatting with him at the Cheese Board, or just bumping into him around town, it was always a treat. His calm and gentle demeanor was contagious and even a brief encounter with Charlie would lower your blood pressure and brighten your mood.

One of Berkeley’s abundant East Coast immigrants, Charlie was born and grew up in Massachusetts. His initial taste of Berkeley actually came in 1961, when he decided to check out the West Coast following his college sophomore year. Charlie got a job as a Wells Fargo teller at the College and Ashby branch and made a few close friends, but wasn’t yet ready for the cross-continental leap. After a trip to Mexico, he returned to Massachusetts in 1962.

Charlie had become interested in photography at 14, on his first job at a camera shop. However, his passion for shooting photos truly blossomed during a four-year apprenticeship he entered in 1964 with the respected commercial photographer, Bob O’Shaughnessy, the man Charlie dubbed his “guru.” As his skills developed, Charlie started using his camera to document the burgeoning folk music revival scene in and around Cambridge, Mass. His talents were soon recognized and Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Mose Allison were among the top musicians Charlie was photographing. There were also gigs doing album covers for such popular performers as Geoff and Maria Muldaur, the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and Doc Watson.

Eventually, his Berkeley connections and curiosity about the Bay Area folk music scene brought Charlie west again, and for a while he shuttled between coasts. Then, in 1973, the call of adventure beckoned Charlie once more. This time it took him for an amazing ocean voyage on a 40-foot sailboat from Berkeley through the Panama Canal and across the Atlantic to England.

His incredible cruise completed, Charlie headed back to the Bay Area. And the very day he resurfaced in Berkeley, Polly came into his life. Shows what a lengthy spell at sea can do for romance. Here’s how Polly, an accomplished musician and ceramicist, remembers the beginnings of her 30-year love affair with Charlie:

“We got together really fast and got married really fast—it was love at first sight. What first drew me to him was that we went to this place full of musicians who were egomaniacs and there was something about Charlie’s presence that made everyone feel they could let down their guard. All these guys who would normally compete would connect.”

Charlie’s striking photos of Polly’s ceramic pieces were much admired by the local crafts community and in addition to ceramics he began focusing his lens on modern glass art. Before long, his meticulous attention to detail and aesthetic sensibilities made him the photographer of choice for such prominent glass artists as Peter Mollica, Richard Marquis and John Lewis. His images of stained glass and glass sculpture appeared in numerous museum catalogues, art books, and magazines, and Charlie’s reputation reached the point that many considered him the premier glass photographer in the country.

In 1990, Charlie joined the Cheese Board collective and became a familiar face behind the counter at Shattuck and Vine. A natural for Berkeley’s famed worker collective, Charlie’s mellowing influence was particularly appreciated during the group’s sometime fractious meetings. As one Cheese Boarder told me, “you could rely on Charlie to be a voice of reason and clarity and we’ll miss him terribly.” Charlie’s photos are featured in the Cheese Board’s acclaimed recipe book published in 2003.

When I last saw Charlie, he was in the hospital battling an obstinate infection. So weak he had difficulty getting out of bed and even speaking, he nonetheless hadn’t lost his spark or concern for those around him. And when a visiting friend worried her car was short on gas, Charlie was quick with directions to the nearest gas station. I mentioned my visit to an old buddy of Charlie’s, Sam, who recounted his conversation with a nurse on Charlie’s floor. Showing him the way to Charlie’s room, the nurse commented on Charlie’s constant stream of visitors and said she assumed he was some famous politician. Sam told me his instinctive retort was “No, not a politician, just the nicest man in the world.”

Charlie Frizzell died of complications from a liver transplant on May 29, 2004. He gave the planet 63 wonderful years. His wife Polly, two sisters, Louise Ambrose and Jane Carey, brother, David Frizzell, as well as other family members, his Cheese Board collective comrades, and wide and diverse circle of friends will always treasure fond memories of this terrific guy.

High up in the North Berkeley Hills where crime is low, university encroachment distant, and a new out-of-scale high-rise apartment building inconceivable, one neighborhood is tackling a concern most Berkeley residents take for granted—power poles and their adjoining wires.

Not only do the poles and wires obstruct some residents’ million-dollar views of the Golden Gate, but—more important, say some neighbors—a downed wire could electrocute someone in the case of a fire or earthquake, as happened in the Oakland fire of 1991.

Concern over the freestanding utilities is so acute in one 105-home tract near the Kensington border that after three years of planning, residents are voting whether or not to tax themselves an estimated $2.3 million total to tear down the poles and bury the wires underground.

In a first-of-its-kind procedure at tonight’s (Tuesday, July 20) City Council meeting, Northeast Berkeley neighbors will get their say at a public hearing, followed by a vote count with the results announced at the meeting. If 60 percent of the 105 homes support the plan, the council will be empowered to create Berkeley’s first undergrounding district. Every home owner in the district will have to pay a flat fee, on average $21,000, towards the undergrounding.

The vote, however, which seemed like a slam dunk for undergrounding early on, now appears too close to call.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Cathy Moran, one of the neighbors backing undergrounding the utilities.

Moran said the undergrounding drive grew out of a neighborhood disaster planning forum several years ago. In 2002, 79 homeowners in the 105-house tract that include Kentucky Avenue, Colorado Avenue, most of Florida Avenue, and parts of Maryland and Michigan avenues, contributed to a $196,000 fund to pay for design costs.

Berkeley gets some public money to underground utilities on major arteries, but for residential areas, neighbors must pay the full costs of the project. In order to move the project forward, proponents have already managed to get 70 percent of property owners to express interest in the project and contribute money to the design.

But Moran has seen neighborhood enthusiasm for undergrounding decline as cost estimates jumped. A City of Berkeley report issued in May, authored by city engineer Lorin Jensen, estimated the project would cost $3 million, about 50 percent higher than the original estimates. Even though bids from contractors have lowered the price to $2.3 million, questions abound if neighbors are willing to foot the bill.

“People are really upset in that district,” said Councilmember Betty Olds. “They won’t vote for that.”

Particularly galling to opponents of the plan was the City Council’s decision last June to lower the threshold for approval from 70 percent to 60 percent.

“That was a major insult to many of us,” said Ruth King, an opponent of undergrounding. She said opponents were confident they could muster 30 percent of the vote and weren’t given adequate notice that the council was considering lowering the threshold.

Under rules established by Proposition 18, passed by California voters in 1996, the council could have set the threshold as low as 50 percent. Instead councilmmebers chose to split the difference between their current 70 percent standard and a bare majority.

Councilmember Miriam Hawley, who represents the neighbors, said she hoped for a decisive vote one way or the other.

But King said the vote sent a message to neighbors that the council was intent on seeing the undergrounding district pass.

“I resent that people are being so casual with my limited funds,” she said. “We’re already taxed up the yin yang here.”

If her neighbors approve creation of the district, King said that she and other neighbors with a bay view, would have to pay for undergrounding through a thirty year bond at about $1,800 a year based on a 6.5 percent interest rate. For elderly or low-income residents, the city can put a lien on the house so they don’t have to make immediate payments.

However, homeowners could stand to gain from undergrounding. Barbara Conheim a real estate agent with Berkeley Hills Realty, said removing poles and wires would definitely raise property values, possibly between $15,000 and $20,000, though she labeled the estimate a wild guess.

“Just the appearance on the street without all those wires and polls would have an affect on the buyer,” she said.

Conheim, though, acknowledged that homeowners with a view obstructed by wires would stand to gain the most from undergrounding.

For equity’s sake, the city has divided the undergrounding district into three zones, each of which would pay different amounts. Homes with a view would be charged $24,000, homes without a view, but in the center of the district, would be charged $21,000, and homes on the edge of the district with wires and poles close by would pay about $18,000.

City Clerk Sherry Kelly said that she has already received 70 of the 105 ballots. However, property owners can change their vote up until the end of the public hearing. Votes will be weighted so homes with a view count 1.15 and homes on the edge of the district count 0.85.

Other Items

Also at tonight’s council meeting, the council will have to approve ballot titles for three citizen-initiated measures that would make prostitution the city’s lowest police priority, ease restrictions on medical cannabis growers and distributors, and establish a tree board to regulate public trees in the city.

A council majority opposes all three measures, and last week Mayor Tom Bates formed a subcommittee to make sure the city’s concerns were highlighted in the summaries that voters read at the ballot. Significant amendments to the ballot titles were circulated last week, though the final recommendation remains unknown.

The council will also be asked to provide emergency funding up to $50,000 for the Jobs Consortium, a program to help homeless residents improve skills and find jobs. The Jobs Consortium shut its doors two weeks ago after a review from its chief funder, the department of Housing and Urban Development, determined the nonprofit owed the federal government agency roughly $1.2 million in back payments.

In a land use issue, the council is being asked tonight to affirm a Landmarks Preservation Commission decision to include the structure and site at 2104 Sixth St. as part of the new Oceanview Sisterna Historic District. The property owner, Gary Feiner, who wants to remodel the building, has appealed the decision. Neighbors are concerned that his design might not fit in with the fabric of the district.

The council is also expected tonight to approve the Environmental Impact Report for the Draft Southside Plan. The current estimate for the report is $329,328—more than double the price for a typical environmental review. Current Planning Manager Mark Rhoades told the Planning Commission that traffic and transportation studies had jacked up the price. Although UC Berkeley has worked with the city on the plan, Rhoades said at the moment the city appears set to pay the full cost of the review.

UC Berkeley announced Monday the start of a new transit pass program designed to lure its 8,000 employees out of their cars and on to AC Transit buses.

Starting in October, for a two year trial run, UC will offer its employees unlimited AC Transit passes for $20 a month—a $70 discount over standard monthly passes that include transbay service. The university will pay AC Transit $50 a month for every pass.

UC, which has had the plan in the works for several years, has faced mounting pressure from employees and city residents to offer its workers an incentive to take public transportation and reduce congestion on city streets.

Currently a UC parking pass costs between $81.50 and $113 a month, comparable to an AC transit monthly pass.

Forty-nine percent of university employees commute to work by some method other than driving alone, one of the best commute rates among Bay Area employers, according to the university.

“We’re dedicated to doing all we can, in partnership with local transportation systems, to promote affordable transit use and other alternatives for employees who currently drive alone work, said Vice Chancellor Steve Lustig in a prepared statement.

Already UC students receive subsidized bus passes paid for by $60 in student fees. The city’s 1,200 employees receive a free bus pass subsidized by entirely by the city.

Unlike those two programs, the new UC employee transit pass, named the Bear Pass, will require recipients to request the pass, instead of receiving it free of charge. The $20-a-month fee will be deducted directly from employees’ pre-tax pay checks.

Rob Wrenn, the chair of the city’s Transportation Commission, called the plan a good first step, but feared that by instituting a higher than average fee and requiring employees to take the initiative to sign up for the plan, UC might not achieve maximum results.

“Generally these programs work best when everybody gets a pass,” he said.

UC is budgeting for 1,500 of its 8,000 employees to sign up for a pass, said Jesse Arreguin, the student representative to the Faculty Parking committee. Arreguin feared that would not be enough participants to sustain the program.

AC Transit Communications Director Jamie Levin, however, predicted the Bear Pass would pay big dividends. “We’re very optimistic that this will prove successful,” he said in a press release. “Anything we can do working in partnership with the university and Berkeley to get more people on public transit is a win-win for everyone.”

Stucco construction lawsuits have become a major growth industry in recent years, with water damage and mold being the two chief complaints.

According to the website of the city of Woodbury, Minn., problems have greatly increased in structures built since the late 1980s.

In an October, 2002, report to the Center for Real Estate Education and Research, Ohio State University finance and business law scholar Elliot Klayman said the “number of lawsuits associated with toxic mold is growing exponentially and threatens to continue. Million dollar awards and settlements are now a reality” and mold has become a legal specialty.

In March, 2003, the Associated General Contractors of America issued a 35-page publication on “Managing the Risk of Mold in the Construction of Buildings,” and the insurance industry has issued countless bulletins on the subject.

Some insurance companies won’t write policies for structures with a past history of stucco problems, and, according to the television newsmagazine 60 Minutes, in some states, even a call from a homeowner inquiring about mold protection can lead to a carrier dropping a policy.

Berkeley contractor Richard Schwartz said stucco is prone to leakage both from its inherent qualities and from construction shortcuts that leave the concrete-like finish susceptible to water intrusion—leaks, in lay terms.

While declining to comment on any particular structure, Schwartz ticked off a list of common causes for stucco failures.

• Inferior quality sand in the mix, “the number one cause of stucco failure;”

• Use of too much or too little water in creating the stucco mix;

• Installation of stucco in expanses of greater than 100 square feet without expansion joints to accommodate climatically caused expansion and contraction;

• Installation of stucco in unbroken areas where the length to width ratio is greater than 2.5 to 1, rendering the material prone to cracks from expansion and contraction;

• Failure to back the stucco with a double layer of Class B construction paper.

Once water penetrates the stucco and construction and reaches the plywood or manufactured oriented strand board [made from wood scraps, usually from the creation of plywood], the danger of mold increases exponentially, Schwartz said.

“Wood expands more perpendicular to the grain than parallel,” he said, and once water reaches the wood the plywood will expand. “If the contractor doesn’t separate each sheet of wood by an eight of an inch, expansion can cause the wood to buckle—which, in my opinion, is the single greatest cause of stucco cracks.”

Improper installation of construction paper that creates a three-layer sandwich at boundary areas creates an environment where capillary action will draw water up and onto the wood.

Schwartz said installation of so-called weep screeds—metal railings with evenly-spaced drain holes at the base of walls and overhangs—prevents water buildup behind the walls. Without them, “water will accumulate and the pressure will eventually force cracks in the stucco.”

The critical factor for the growth of mold is humidity of greater than 20 percent inside the walls, he said.

“Mold doesn’t colonize when the humidity is 19 percent or less,” Schwartz said. “Three factors critical for mold growth are humidity, a temperate climate—which we have here—and parenchyma, the carbohydrate in wood on which the mold feeds. The only thing that can prevent mold here is to deny it the moisture.”

Another critical factor is the treatment of horizontal surfaces, where water can pool. Window ledges and roof surfaces offer points of critical vulnerability, and correct installation of waterproof seals is essential in preventing lengths.

The use of low grade caulking compounds at window and roof joints is a common cause of leaks. High quality flexible sealants are one solution, but Schwartz said the preferred alternatives are mechanical seals such as overlapping or interlocking metal seals.

But even with the metal seals, the adjoining construction paper should be covered by additional metal flashing to prevent water condensation.

Recent testing on the Gaia Building using high-pressure water sprays at the windows and the exposure of construction paper at the corner of a window joint on the eastern wall indicates that windows have been a particular problem with the controversial structure.

One clue that windows may have played a central role in the Gaia Building’s mold problems is found in the use permit the city issued authorizing Kennedy to build the Fine Arts Building on Shattuck Avenue, which imposed a special condition barring the use of stucco in that structure’s window sills.

Current building codes don’t incorporate all the stucco construction safeguards, Schwartz said. “That’s because codes are political documents.”

In June, 2002, the California Apartment Association’s Mold Task Force published a 33-page set of guidelines for assessing and correcting fungal contamination. The report identifies five molds most commonly associated with water intrusion: Cladosporidium, Penicillium, Aspergilis, Fusarium and Staphybotros chartarum—the most toxic of the lot.

The Apartment Owners’ publication identifies the following symptoms of mold exposure:

The greatest number of stucco-related lawsuits have been filed in Texas, where in 1997 then-Gov. George W. Bush ordered extensive repairs to the Governor’s Mansion following discovery of an extensive mold infestation.

The next most mold-litigious state is California, according to a report by the National Roofing Contractors Association.?

Firefighters were summoned to 1195 Grizzly Peak Road 17 minutes after midnight Monday, arriving four minutes later to find a neighbor with a hose battling the flames that had swept up the wall of wood-shingled garage.

“He had most of the flames out when the engines arrived,” said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth.

The flames resulted from spontaneous combustion of solvents and rags used for brush cleaning by an artistic resident, who had left them outside next to the garage wall.

Rose held her iridescent purple knitting needles close to her eyes and peered between knit/purls at the Scrabble board. Something long, multi-colored, weird, and seemingly out-of-control hung from the needles and mysteriously disappeared underneath the table.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “You aren’t going to knit while we’re playing Scrabble, are you?”

“Sure,” said Rose, glaring at me from behind her bifocals. “I’m multi-tasking. You’ve heard of that before, haven’t you?”

I looked at the other Scrabblettes for help, but they were ignoring me. Pearl was leafing through the dictionary and Louise was making a call on her cell phone.

“You know, Pearl, if you’re going to look up words in the dictionary, you need to share the information you find with all of us,” I said.

Pearl nodded her head. I thought she might be agreeing with me, but she stayed mum and continued her secret search.

I gave my attention over to Louise. Who could she be calling in the middle of our Scrabble game?

“Hello Mom,” I heard her say. “What are you doing?” She waited for a response and I could hear a voice on the other end, but not the actual words.

“That’s good,” said Louise. “Say, I’m over here at the house playing Scrabble and we were talking about Fourth of July again. Pearl is still obsessed with finding out if we celebrated Independence Day and if we had fireworks. I told her we didn’t celebrate the Fourth in Monroe and that we only had sparklers at Christmas. She doesn’t believe me. What do you remember?”

I watched Louise’s eyes as she pressed the cell phone closer to her ear.

“Yes,” she said. “That’s what I thought. Thanks.”

Louise pushed some buttons on her phone and put it down next to the Scrabble board. Rose’s knitting needles made loud clicking sounds as Pearl continued to turn pages in the big blue dictionary.

“Mom says no Fourth of July celebrations back in Monroe, and no sparklers except at Christmas.”

“Okay,” said Pearl, looking up for a moment. “Thanks for verifying that for me.”

“You called your mom?” I asked. I didn’t want to sound rude, but I was curious. At the age of 72 Louise was still calling her mom for information?

“Of course,” said Louise. “She only lives around the corner. It’s not long distance.”

“I mean, I’m just surprised that you would call your mom.”

“We talk all the time. My mother is in better shape than anyone at this table,” said Louise. “Besides, she’s only 85. She’s more like a friend than a mom.”

I did a quick calculation in my head. “Your mom is only 13 years older than you?” I asked.

“Yes,” said Louise. “And her mom was 13 years older than her. I remember seeing my great-great grandmother once. She was in a horse-drawn wagon with her brothers. But that was a long time ago. You know, people in the south had children at a young age back then.”

“Yes,” said Pearl lifting her face out of the dictionary. “Not like now. I can’t imagine having babies at 50 or 60. What are those people thinking?”

“What about that Italian woman?” asked Rose, her knitting needles still clicking at a furious pace. “She must be crazy giving birth at 65.”

“I think it’s irresponsible to have a baby at her age,” said Pearl. “There are risks to her health and the child’s. She’d have been better off knitting.”

“I agree,” said Rose. “Knitting isn’t as productive as having a baby, but you can give it away when you’re finished. It doesn’t require in-vitro, or a partner, like sex does.”

“Knitting IS the new sex,” said Louise. “I read it in the paper.”

“Time out,” I said, putting my hands in front of me to form a T. “Too much information.”

“Don’t be such a prude,” said Pearl. “Maybe you need to take up knitting.”

As an entertainer, the governor may not know about the tradition in politics of maintaining the illusion of respect and collegiality for one’s political adversaries. Differences aside, there is absolutely no excuse for him to stoop to name calling—whatever his message or intention.

I am no supporter of the governor, but, until now, I’ve refrained from denouncing him. After all, misguided ambition, even when powered by fame and personal fortune, is not so terrible a thing.

When he chose to insult the members of the State Legislature with name-calling, though, he proved himself a rascal and rube in addition to being an opportunist. He has chosen to abandon public discourse, throwing away his right to a fair hearing by disrespecting the Legislature and the people of California whom they represent.

And is he lacking wit as well as manners? Does he realize that the Saturday Night Live sketch he cribbed from was not flattering to him? That Carvey and Neiland’s characters mocked him as a muscle-bound, brainless twit?

Let’s get the governor’s attention, provoke him to apologize to state lawmakers, and remind him that—special effects notwithstanding—he is a politician now.

He had better start acting like one.

Troy DuFrene

•

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Editors, Daily Planet:

Thank you for the informative letter from Anne Wellington (”Raging Grannies Wasted Their Performance on a Ruse,” Daily Planet, July 16-19) demystifying some of the affordable housing myths. We have experienced the adverse effects of so called “affordable housing” first-hand in Oakland where Mayor Jerry Brown, the City Council, and the Planning Commission all pander to the developers and rubber-stamp their projects while vital emergency services are cut (fire department, police) and health clinics close instead of declining the housing projects. While I am not opposed to affordable housing per se, I do oppose monies being taken from the general fund of city budgets while basic services are cut. This is happening at a time when there are vacancies everywhere especially in Oakland. Affordable housing is a complex issue and impacts low-income people living in cities nationwide. It deserves more in-depth coverage which I hope the Daily Planet will explore further.

Marian Murphy

Oakland

•

UNIVERSITY AVENUE

Editors, Daily Planet:

The article “Planning Commission Passes University Avenue Plan” in Friday’s paper contained a number of factual errors and some misconceptions. The proposed zoning code will allow bigger building than the article suggests. It needs to be understood that when proposed maximum envelope and height numbers are mentioned it is before the 25 percent state-mandated Density Bonus is taken. The University Avenue Strategic Plan called for a maximum height of four stories in the retail nodes and three in the non-nodes, not three and two as the articles mentions. That is exactly what the proposed zoning code will allow. It is the Density Bonus that will potentially add the extra floor. The Density Bonus can also be used to reduce the rear setbacks. The solar setback on projects on the north side of University will reduce the size and density of projects although, after the Density Bonus is applied, not as dramatically as the article implies. Projects in the Southside retail nodes can actually have a larger floor area (FAR) than Acton Courtyard. The 20- foot setback is an average setback so these building do not have to be boxes.

There will be a lot less retail on the avenue then implied in the articles. The statement that all mixed-use projects require 30 percent commercial is misleading. That requirement only applies in the retail nodes. In the non-nodes, mixed-use projects will require 15 percent commercial and only half of that has to be retail. The proposed project at the Tune-up Masters site, for example, would only be required to have 750 square feet of retail. Mixed-use projects in the non-nodes will produce a lot of tiny unrentable retail boxes.

Of greater significance is the addition of residential-only projects in the non-nodes. Although this idea was rejected when the original plan was adopted, at this time there was a wide consensus that it should be added. This is predicted to be a popular use. It is easy to see that a lot of non-node development will replace larger retail spaces with projects that have either no or very little retail. The “token” retail will be a problem because it will be hard to rent, but reducing retail in the non-nodes is consistent with the UASP notion of not having retail on the entire length of the Avenue but instead concentrating it in retail nodes.

Whether retail will really work in the nodes is uncertain. The plan stressed the importance of supplementing walk-in business with customer parking provided in parking lots. The required commercial parking would be for employees only. The retail requirement in the retail nodes are still small and will not produces the larger retail spaces that are more popular and tend to serve as anchor businesses. Last week the Planning Commission did a commendable job of trying to maintain some flexibility yet produce retail and tenant parking. The only solution is to rely on underground or stacked parking, both of which are becoming quite common, the commission should have the courage to declare if a developer wants to build a five-story building in a retail node they will probably have to stack or underground their parking.

Richard Graham

PlanBerkeley contributor

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mr. Graham’s statements are correct. We appreciate his input. The headline on the story was also incorrect; the commission did not pass the plan, but is expected to approve a final draft July 28, as stated in the story.

•

TRANSPORTATION

Editors, Daily Planet:

As it happens, I agree with Mitch Cohen regarding the desirability of cycling as a mode of transit but he has misrepresented my concerns regarding the basis for David Early’s proposed plans for a livable Berkeley. I had questioned a planning process that assumed everyone could, as Mr. Early is quoted as claiming he could get to any place in Berkeley more quickly by bicycle then by car. I simply pointed out that I was unable to get from the marina to my home as quickly by bicycle as I could by car.

I appreciate Mr. Cohen’s suggestion that I take the 65 bus instead of my car when I wish to visit the marina. I am familiar with that line; it wakes me every morning promptly at 6 a.m. Unfortunately, the current information for AC Transit indicates that it does not run to the Berkeley Marina.

David Nasatir

•

POLICE BLOTTER

Editors, Daily Planet:

When are you going to get rid of Richard Brenneman? You’ve had numerous complaints. Mine is with his Police Blotter. His “cuteness” is inappropriate, insulting and offensive. He’s obviously never been a victim of a violent crime.

If you can’t dismiss him because he’s related to the owner, give him a fiction column to write. Short stories perhaps. He’s a wannabe detective storywriter, dime variety.

Of if reporters are hard to find, so you feel you can’t afford to dismiss him, do it anyway and leave the space he’d normally fill blank. You’d be doing your readers a favor.

To the Berkeley City Counci, the Planning Commission and the Zoning Adjustments Board:

We are very concerned that the traffic, congestion and parking problems that would be generated by the proposed West Berkeley Bowl would be materially detrimental and cause extensive harm to businesses and residents in the area. A 55,000-square-foot supermarket would bring more than 6,000 new autos into the area each weekday, and more than 9,700 each weekend day. Over 600 extra autos would drive into the area at peak afternoon hours each weekday. Once built, the West Berkeley Bowl would generate over 51,000 total vehicle trips per week. As proposed, the West Bowl project has only 128 parking stalls--and 19 “tandem” stalls.

Traffic of that level would create chaos in the neighborhood and damage manufacturing and other businesses, perhaps irreparably. We call on the city to limit the Bowl or any other new development to a size and type that would keep traffic to levels compatible with maintaining an industry-friendly environment in West Berkeley, as codified in the West Berkeley Plan.

Originally the Bowl proposed to put a warehouse and a neighborhood grocery at Ninth and Heinz streets. We propose a return to this plan. A market half the size of the proposed West Bowl—about the size of the University Avenue Andronico’s, 26,000 square feet—would still generate traffic and have a serious impact, but would probably not be devastating to the area. It is not the city’s responsibility to solve these problems, but the burden of the developer making the proposal.

We further urge you to not make changes in the codified West Berkeley Plan or the city’s General Plan in order to accommodate the West Bowl proposal. These documents contain vital protections for industry, and any weakening of them would open the door to further proposals with detrimental consequences to manufacturing and to the neighborhood. Finally we urge you to organize traffic flow to minimize the impact on the adjoining residential community by blocking traffic from turning north from Heinz onto the local streets.

Medical cannabis patients like myself are simply not feeling too secure these days. The medical cannabis voter initiative—the Patients’ Access to Medical Cannabis Act (PAMCA)—seems to have provoked a great deal of critical response judging from articles in the last two issues of the Daily Planet. I’d like to remind the city manager, the BCC, and citizens of Berkeley that PAMCA is what I consider a responsible attempt by informed medical cannabis advocates to ensure legal, sanctioned, and efficient access for patients to their medicine.

I question the opposition to PAMCA (City Manager Kamlarz’ critical report) as well as the BCC’s earlier (April 27) reasoning in choosing not to consider amending Berkeley’s medical cannabis code. At the April 27 meeting, plant limit concerns consisted of potential commercial production, ensuing robberies and home invasion fears. Neglected were the rights of medical cannabis patients to grow their own sufficient amount of medicine legally under current Berkeley city code. Putting it kindly, members of the BCC and Police Chief Roy Eisner clearly displayed their lack of knowledge about marijuana cultivation. Larger plants, more area, and many lights are required for commercial cultivation. Patients’ homes are certainly not able to provide what is needed to produce pounds and pounds of marijuana, and I doubt there are warehouses available in our city whose owners would allow the commercial growing of medical cannabis. PAMCA affords patients the ability to grow the amount of marijuana according to their personal needs.

Further arguments against the initiative are regarding a “parade of new pot clubs” that are sure to be opening in Berkeley. I suggest those who are so worried call every commercial space available in Berkeley and mention opening a medical cannabis dispensary. One of the reasons the Cannabis Buyers Cooperative of Berkeley (CBCB) fought so hard to move their location to Sacramento Street was a simple lack of locations willing to accept dispensaries. Last week the Daily Planet correctly reported the “revoking of CBCB’s use permit costing the operation about $10,000.” Further opposition mentioned by Don Duncan (“No one thought it was a good idea...”) wasn’t completely accurate. At the Alliance of Berkeley Patients meetings (ABP—a proposed “Peer Review Committee”) which I attended there was at least reluctant support for CBCB’s move. Truly unfortunate was the contentious interaction at later neighborhood meetings that rendered the move impossible. If the oldest and previously problem-free dispensary in Berkeley is having difficulty finding a new location, how can it follow that PAMCA will mean many more new “pot clubs” in Berkeley?

The peer review committee is such a good idea and I believe the efforts of dispensary owners in Berkeley should be recognized and sanctioned. Today (Tuesday, July 20) the BCC will have the opportunity to adopt PAMCA and negotiate changes in the initiative. Councilmember Dona Spring, more than any other BCC member, gets it—the fact that medical cannabis is crucial to so many patients’ lives. Her legitimate concerns about zoning could be addressed by BCC action today and following negotiations. As a 30 year Berkeley resident, homeowner, and current medical cannabis patient who has studied the provisions in PAMCA, I feel this measure is necessary to protect patients’ access to medicine. The strong opposition to PAMCA worries me. I hope compassion, good sense, and community will receive due consideration if not this Tuesday then by the voters in November.

Roll out the sofas and living room rugs, but leave the red carpet behind. That was the theme at Bay Area houses as neighbors packed into living rooms to watch the nation-wide premier of Outfoxed—Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, the newest in the deluge of groundbreaking and hard-hitting left wing political documentaries hitting the American scene this year.

At Kari Hamerschlag’s North Berkeley house on Sunday, stragglers were left with standing room only. People peered around walls, sat at awkward angles, and humored the friendly but intrusive family puppy as more than 40 people packed in to be part of the event organized by Berkeley’s own MoveOn.org.

“There was such overwhelming interest,” said Hamerschlag. “Thirty-two people signed up but easily 40 people came.”

The Bay Area alone hosted 382 parties over the weekend, and nation-wide, organizers expected the movie to be seen in 3,000 houses. On Friday, lines stretched around the block to see the big-screen premiere at San Francisco’s alternative Victoria Theater in the Mission, an event hosted by AlterNet and Media Alliance.

The movie, directed by Robert Greenwald, is an in-depth examination of the Fox News cable channel owned by the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, which is already well-known for its conservative bent. The movie explores the why and the how of the station’s particular take on the news. Simply put, it tries to smash the station’s motto, “Fair and Balanced.”

Beyond the message, however, is the movie. Based in large part on clips from Fox, it bends the rules of mainstream cinema-making and established principles of copyright law, which is why it’s been released in living rooms and alternative theaters. But its vice has also been its virtue.

According to Greenwald, he and a team of legal advisers are still waiting to see how the movie plays out legally. Currently, his attorneys, including Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, are preparing for what could be a lawsuit from Fox charging infringement of copyright law for use of the clips. Such a lawsuit might result in an injunction to stop the movie from being shown in commercial movie houses, but it would be more difficult to stop living room showings. At the Victoria, Lessig, who is also chair of the Creative Commons fair use advocacy group, described Greenwald’s legal team as wading through the giant sea of copyright law, hoping to establish themselves on the firm ground of fair use.

Instead of backing down and waiting to see what happens, the movie has inspired people to take things into their own hands. Instead of just paying money to watch a movie, they’ve been forced to seek a new model for democracy in action.

And who better to lead the way than MoveOn? Anticipating potential legal restraints, MoveOn organized the home screenings, forcing people to be proactive in order to participate in the event. And with Sunday’s turnout, numbers seem to indicate that it’s been a success.

According to Greenwald, this new model was the plan all along. Besides the message of the movie, he says he wants it to encourage involvement. One of first links on the movie’s homepage is an activism guide where people can find out what they can do to “fight back against corporate media consolidation.”

“I think it’s very empowering,” said Hamerschlag. “It shows us all that we can do something about this. If we can stop Fox News, that’s going to have an important impact on other news organizations that otherwise felt that they might need to be more like Fox News. Everybody who saw the movie at my house were very inspired to take action. I think it’s going to be a very successful campaign.”›

“Muchas Culturas, Una Communidad: Many Cultures, One Community” paper maché and ceramic artworks by students from the Le Conte and Longfellow Schools opens at Addison St. Windows, 2018 Addison St. 981-7533.

FILM

Time’s Shadow: “Nostalghia” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

THEATER

“Wasting Your Breath” written and performed by Mike Daisey at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $5. 647-2949.

Summer Noon Concert with The Crowden Music Center at the Berkeley BART. Sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley Association.

Lost and Found Generation in a benefit for Between the Lines Magazine at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org

Bembeya Jazz, from Guinea, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Lecture and demonstration on West African music and dance with Dr. Zakarya Diouf at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $15, $5 for lecture only. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com

Gil Stancourt, original folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org

Berkeley Opera “Bat Out of Hell,” a new adaptation of “Die Fledermaus” at Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org

Central Works “The Mysterious Mr. Looney” a new play about the man who wrote the plays of Shakespeare opens at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Thurs.-S at. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., through Aug. 5. Tickets are $8-$20, sliding scale. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org

FILM

Bergman on a Summer Night: “The Virgin Spring” at 5 and 9 p.m. and “The Magician” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 6 42-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

Of the many things you can do with (and to) opera, there is “updating,” spoofing, and producing a work really well. Then, there is David Scott Marley.

His 1996 adaptation of Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, now revived at Berkeley Opera in a sparkling production, transcends a single approach. Bat Out of Hell switches the action from 19th century Paris to dot-com-era Berkeley. Marley souses the work in comedy, irony, satire, and good-natured humor; and—most importantly—he makes almost all of it work as a whole.

A fine cast, Jonathan Khuner’s firm and effective musical direction (with an A-list orchestra in the minuscule pit), Ann Woodhead’s smooth stage direction, and Kate Boyd’s simple sets (window frames and curtains do it all) combine to make Bat Out of Hell a big bang for your musical-theater buck on either side of the Bay.

Marley’s take on Fledermaus story—the original itself developed by many, from Benedix to Meilhac and Halévy, to Richard Genée—is rich in ideas, consistent in execution.

Here, Eisenstein (Martin Lewis) is heading to jail because of a $700 parking ticket (“$700? Incredible!” “Yes, I never heard of one that small either”). He and wife Rosalinda (Jillian Khuner, in one of the evening’s finest vocal performances) are also hiding a secret from one another: both were activists in the halcyon days of the People’s Republic of Berzerkley, but are now caught up in marketing and such. As the story unfolds, Marley is actually enriching the original, not just replacing letters with e-mail.

The best, the most hilarious of Marley’s adaptation is making Prince Orlofsky into a juvenile version of Bill Gates, an awkward, maladjusted 16-year-old genius, a mercurial multi-billionaire CEO. His aria becomes “Follow your bliss,” with the passage: “Just because I wrote some code / And made a lucky strike / Each man I meet becomes my toad / And I do what I like.”

Sung superbly by Sonia Gariaeff, “Bill Orlovsky” becomes the focal point of not only Act 2, but of the whole evening. As she slouches about with a baseball cap turned around, electronic equipment dangling from her belt, Gariaeff evokes both constant smiles and many loud guffaws, keeps the character entertaining and “meaningful” within the context of the piece.

Another star turn belongs to Shawnette Sulker (possibly California’s only opera singer born in Guyana), whose over-the-top Hispanic maid in search of a film career (or a computer mega-billionaire, whichever first) is hilarious, her stage presence enhanced by a bright, appealing vocal performance.

There is only one thing wrong with the production: The treatment of Act 3 is a serious miscalculation. Yes, there is a traditional comedy bit for the jailer Frosch, but in Berkeley, the 12-step meeting led by “Ms.” Frosch stretches out the act, extending the evening to three hours. Fé Bongolan’s Frosch is funny enough, but this is overkill, something in stark contrast with the rest of the production, where all is well... before it ends well.

Warning: Bat Out of Hell runs in the Julia Morgan Theater only through one more weekend. www.berkeleyopera.org. For the original Fledermaus libretto in German and English: http://tinyurl.com/5rc2z.

Tuliptrees, or tulip poplars, line the western half of University Avenue in Berkeley. They’re not universally popular poplars, mostly because they’re prone to aphid infestations and the aphids’ sticky excretions drip onto everything below, attract soot, and nourish sooty black molds. Too bad, because it’s a noble tree with roots in American history.

Besides not being popular, they aren’t actually poplars. They’re magnolia relatives, Liriodendron tulipifera, “the lily tree that bears tulips,” fellow members of one of the most ancient families of flowering plants. They’ve been known by a bewildering variety of names: Rakiock, American tulipwood, canoe wood, carney wood, whitewood, blue poplar, white poplar, yellow poplar, hickory poplar, tulip poplar, tulip magnolia, tuliptree, popple, and probably a few others. Lumbermen, biologists, folklorists, and cabinetmakers drive each other crazy with this sort of thing.

Their flowers do resemble tulips in that they’re upright and a bit conical or cup-shaped. Janet Lembke, in her charming book Shake Them ‘Simmons Down, describes them as “large greeny-white cups lined with touches of saffron and redgold.” They really are subtly lovely; the pity is that they’re usually held well above our range of sight, on these high-trimmed urban street trees. You might see some after they’ve dried out and fallen in winter; they look a little like papery, skinny pine cones.

The trees themselves manage to maintain some of their native shape even under the deforming stresses of city life. The incessant wind off the bay sometimes makes them a bit lopsided, though. Their tops have a gracious loose spread that turns to a widely conical top, like an enormous slow green flame. Their branches are resilient enough to give them a graceful dancing motion in the wind, where they have been allowed the space to move. Their trunks are graceful, too, straight and smoothly tapered, covered with smooth-ish light brown bark. They’re fast growers but unlike most such trees, are long-lived, sometimes to 300 years in their home range.

Tuliptrees are native farther east in North America, from Florida to New England and Ontario, west to southern Michigan and eastern Arkansas. They get—or used to get—huge on the southern coastal plain and in the Appalachians; old stories mention trees big enough to make a dugout canoe that could easily carry 20 men and their gear. It was supposed to be a tuliptree that Daniel Boone hollowed out into a 60-foot canoe to ferry his family and homestead necessities down the Ohio River into Spanish territory when he left Kentucky.

The genus Liriodendron has only one other species, and that one’s in China, L. chinense. This odd distribution happens in several ancient species groups, including magnolias, that seem to have evolved in one area and been sundered by continental drift.

The tree excited Europeans who first met it in America, and they catalogued its uses as well as its beauty. The wood is light but tough, easily worked, though by some accounts it tends to absorb and lose moisture easily and thus swell and shrink if it isn’t sealed. This doesn’t seem to hurt its reputation as a canoe wood—one of the first names Europeans called it, as it was used and recommended for that purpose to the Walter Raleigh expedition by indigenous Americans. Thomas Jefferson was fond of it and named his country estate Poplar Forest for the wild ones surrounding it, and planted more as he landscaped the grounds. He sent lots of its seeds to Europe—and he was far from the first to do so, as it’s mentioned as a garden tree there as early as 1687.

Tuliptrees can grow seriously large, but I don’t suppose we’ll ever see a street tree get as big as the one reported in 1709, one 10 feet in diameter “wherein a lusty Man had his Bed and Household Furniture, and liv’d in it.” Another associated marvel we probably won’t see with our city dwellers is their mycorrhizal associate, the morel mushroom. Then again, given the wide reach of a tree’s roots—roughly in a circle whose radius is one and a half the tree’s height, is the rule of thumb—it might prove fruitful to look around any nearby patches of dirt or lawn in the rainy season.

Berkeley Housing Authority Public Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2004 Agency Annual Plan at 6 p.m. at City Council Chambers, 2134 MLK, Jr. Way. 981-5470.

Peach Tasting An opportunity to sample, for free, all at one table, the whole sumptuous range of peach varieties at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market. Plus a comprehensive sampling of other stone fruits that are in season: nectarines, plums, pluots, and apricots. From 2 to 7 p.m. at Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333.

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club General Membership Meeting, 6 p.m. potluck, 7 p.m. meeting at Humanist Hall North Side of 27th St., between Telegraph and Broadway.

“Jewish Ethics and Values” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237, ext. 112.

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672 for information or check our web page, http://home.comcast.net/~teachme99/tildenwalkers

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Lisa Peterson will present information on medical and home care services at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830.

“Fahrenheit 9/11” special screening for youth age 13 and up at 11:45 a.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave. Oakland. 415-575-5551.

Knitting Hour at 6 p.m. at the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. Come and learn to knit for the first time or regain old skills and meet other knitters. All ages and levels welcome. Limited supplies available. 981-6270.

Gray Panthers Wednesday Night Gathering to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the UN Conference on Women. At 7 p.m. at 1403 Addison St. 548-9696.

“Death of a Shaman” a free showing of the documentary film by Fahm Saeyang and Richard Hall, at 6:30 p.m. followed by a community discussion at James Irvine Conference Center, East Bay Community Foundation, 353 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Downtown Oakland, at 12th St. BART. Sponsored by Appreciating Diversity Film Series, Piedmont League of Women Voters, and Diversityworks. 835-9227. www.diversityworks.org

Chronic Back Pain, a roundtable discussion about the different methods of treating and preventing chronic back pain. From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Rockridge Library. Beverages will be provided and you are welcome to bring your own lunch. This event is free.

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat. 548-9840.

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Prebyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. For information call Robert Flammia 524-3765.

Fun with Acting Class every Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome, no experience necessary.

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/

vigil4peace/vigil

THURSDAY, JULY 22

Twilight Tour “Amazing Plants” A tour with a focus on the unusual and rare at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $12-$17. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

Tilden Tots A nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds each accompanied by an adult. We’ll capture and release butterflies, moths and other insects. From 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org

Sacred Serpent Slide Show on the serpent as a symbol for healing, at 7:30 p.m. at Changemakers Books, 6536 Telegraph. Cost is $10. 655-2405. www.changemakersforwomen.com

New College of California Women’s Spirituality Laboratory at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $5. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws

Kol Hadash the Bay Area’s only Jewish Humanistic Congregation meets at 7:30 p.m. for Shabbat, the fourth Friday of every month, at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Special "Goodby Party" for Rabbi Eckstein. Free and open to the public. Please bring non-perishable food for the needy. 428-1492. www.kolhadash.org

SATURDAY, JULY 24

Tribute to Fr. Bill O’Donnell at noon at St. Mary Magdalen Church at 2005 Berryman St. Food, raffle tickets and a silent auction. Sponsored by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action. 658-2467.

Party for Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli peace activist and nuclear whistleblower who still cannot leave Israel, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. www.nonviolence.org/vanunu

Identity Theft Forum hosted by Supervisor Keith Carson and the Alameda County Consumer Affairs Commission from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Progressive Baptist Church, 3301 King St. The forum is free, everyone welcome to attend.

Cerrito Creek Work Party We want to make a big summer push to remove the remaining thornless blackberry, allowing fall planting along the creek. Helping to remove this pest also will be our contribution to California Weed Awareness Week. At 10 a.m. Email for location. F5creeks@aol.com

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of the Mills College Campus from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Meet on the lawn of Alderwood Hall, left inside the Richardson Gate, 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours

Sushi Basics Learn the natural and cultural history of this ancient cuisine as you prepare and taste seven types of sushi. From 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Parent participation required for children 8-10. Cost is $25-$39, registration required. 525-2233.

Weekend Tilden Tots An indoor/outdoor nature adventure for 3 and 4 year olds each accompanied by an adult. Today we’ll learn about butterflies, moths and more. From 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $6 for residents, $8 for non-residents. 525-2233.

Current Activities of the Physicians for Social Responsibility at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 525-0302.

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. 848-7800 or 883-9710.

“Guilty by Suspicion” a video screening on the House Committee on Un-American Activities, followed by discussion at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Neighborhood Center, 530 Lake Park Ave. Donation $1. Sponsored by East Bay Community Against the War. www.ebcaw.org

Summer Science Week in the Tilden Nature Area For junior scientists, 9-12 years. Different topics daily: get wet on Pond and Stream Day, make a “thermometer lizard,” meet a snake, play Paleo Bingo, explore the universe, look at rainforests. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Cost is $150-$166. Registration required. 636-1684. www.ebparks.org

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center. Join at any time. 524-9122.

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 1:15 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170.

Iyengar Yoga on Mondays from from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $12. 528-9909. gay@yogagarden.org

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425.

ONGOING

Berkeley Youth Alternative Boys Basketball Tournament will be held from July 21 through Aug. 8 at Emery High School in Emeryville. Divisions are 17 and under, 15 and under, and 12 and under. Entry fee is $200 per team with a three game guarantee. For more information call 845-9066. sports@byaonline.org

Free Summer Lunch Programs are offered to youth age 18 and under at various sites in Berkeley, including James Kenny Rec. Center, Frances Albrier Center, Strawberry Creek, Longfellow School, Rosa Parks School and Washington School, Mon. - Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. until Aug. 20. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Health Dept. 981-5351.

CITY MEETINGS

City Council meets Tues., July 20 at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil

As Berkeley officials ponder revisions to the city’s ground-breaking 1989 creeks ordinance, city engineers have presented them with sobering news on the state of the underground concrete structures that enclose nearly half of Berkeley’s creek channels.

According to a report presented to the City Council Tuesday evening, Berkeley’s buried creeks pose an increasing danger to 2,000 homeowners and already stretched municipal coffers. The report revealed that these creeks are channeled through decaying underground culverts, half of them on city property.

“Creek culverts, both public and private, are reaching the end of their useful life,” said the three-page document signed by Public Works Director Rene Cardinaux. “[F]ailures will start to be experienced causing damage to the public right of way or to private property.”

Berkeley is built on the watersheds of 10 streams with a combined length of 71,935 feet, according to the Cardinaux report. Nearly half the total—35,163 feet—flows through underground culverts, most built before 1920. The average lifespan of culverts runs between 60 and 80 years, and most of Berkeley’s underground channels have already passed the eight-decade mark.

Further complicating the issue are the culverts built on privately owned land before 1928, when the city started requiring construction permits.

Berkeley has already experienced several culvert failures, including two along Strawberry Creek, one of which occurred directly beneath Civic Center Park.

The Cardinaux report examined one watershed in detail, Strawberry Creek between Oxford Street and the Bay, and located six areas of concern.

The first trouble spot they identified was a 396-foot-long section starting at Oxford and flowing west along Allston Way. City engineers discovered erosion at the base of the culvert and found that the structure’s concrete in poor condition.

“Lining is recommended for this section to give it additional strength and durability,” Cardineaux reported. “The estimated cost is between $5,000 and $7,000 per linear foot, or between $1.98 million and $2.8 million.”

The decaying segment is located on both private and public property, and the city ordinance holds the property owner responsible for maintenance on their land.

A second stretch, 140 linear feet at Allston and Harold ways, is currently slated for repair, with an estimated cost to the city of up to $500,000 and a maximum of $420,000 for repairs on private property.

A third segment, 699 feet on public and private property between McKinley and Roosevelt streets, would cost up to $4.9 million to repair. A 567-foot stretch on public land between California and Sacramento streets would cost up to $4 million.

Another 300 feet, on private land, would cost $1 million.

Cardinaux also reported that a storm drain under University Avenue that serves both Strawberry Creek and the Addison Street drain pipe has started to corrode, with repair costs estimated at up to $11.3 million.

Simply inspecting the underground culverts is a costly task, with a complete survey estimated to take five years at a cost of $500,000.

The 1989 city statute, one of the nation’s first, has resulted in tensions between developers, residents, and groups calling for restoration and “daylighting” of the city’s creeks—many now shunted through underground culverts.

The current ordinance bars development within 30 feet of the centerline of Berkeley creeks.

Tuesday evening’s presentation came in anticipation of the Sept. 28 workshop where city officials and private citizens will discuss revisions to the 1989 statute.

“We don’t even have a good list of the city’s creeks,” said Councilmember Betty Olds. “It’s terrible. I know there are creeks that aren’t listed, and some are listed that shouldn’t be.”

But the councilmember could say no more, after City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque advised Mayor Tom Bates that as a citizen personally affected by the ordinance, Olds was barred from speaking.

“There’s a whole district up in the hills with more creeks than any other and their representative can’t talk,” Olds protested.

“That’s democracy,” quipped Bates, provoking a chorus of boos from the audience.

“Just kidding,” the mayor responded.

The most contentious issue was the ambiguous nature of existing laws when it comes to the cost of repairs to culverts on private property.

“The major problem is that there are numerous houses built over creeks and on bridges. Our position is that because it’s private property, they’re on their own,” Bates said.

Because of the large number of property owners affected by the ordinance, several councilmembers insisted that the city notify all of them prior to the September workshop.

“We have to address the culvert issue and what’s reasonable to do,” said Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, who added that because of the extensive costs, daylighting all the city’s culverted creeks simply wasn’t an option.

Councilmember Dona Spring urged that the September workshop be limited to two issues, restricting paving over culverted creeks without any current development and allowing affected property owners to rebuild structures after a disaster—which she favors.

The ordinance currently bars any new structures within 30 feet of the midline of a waterway.

The rebuilding issue was critical to homeowner Diane Crowley, whose house lies 30 feet above a culverted creek. “Who will offer me more than five dollars for my home if I have to reveal to them that they might not be able to rebuild after a fire or a quake?” he asked.

“As the ordinance is written, they wouldn’t have the opportunity of rebuilding,” Bates said.

Rebuilding would require zoning variances and approvals by city regulatory bodies, said Planning Director Dan Marks.

“If there’s a disaster, this council will change the ordinance to permit rebuilding,” Bates said.

Homeowners Bonnie Gergen and Bob Allen said they were disturbed that the original ordinance had been enacted without notifying all the affected property owners. “The process should include an environmental impact report,” Allen said.

Councilmember Miriam Hawley said any revised ordinance should treat open and culverted creeks differently. “People on culverts may need to expand their homes,” she said. “It seems as long as the people know they’re on a culvert and are responsible for it,” they should be allowed to expand their homes.

City Manager Phil Kamlarz told the council city staff wants “a war plan and a budget” to tackle creek repairs. When Bates and Maio suggested creating a citizen task force to examine and report on the problem, Kamlarz countered that “some task forces take three or four years.”

Wozniak suggested using the city’s existing commissions instead, and urged the city to address the maintenance requirements of culverts on private property because the water flowing through them affects the whole course of a stream.

“This opens us up for huge liability,” Bates responded.

Spring said she favored the task force approach because it would add special expertise not present on existing city commission.

As Alameda county races to meet new re-certification standards for its touchscreen voting machines, critics say they are still not satisfied with the machines’ security and are trying to give the county one last opt-out option before the November election.

In a complaint unsealed last week, Bev Harris, the Washington State-based founder of BlackBoxVoting.org, and California resident Jim March—represented by their Berkeley attorney Lowell Finley—alleged that touchscreen voting machine maker Diebold Systems, Inc, violated the False Claims Act on two counts: first, by selling the county machines that Diebold knew were insecure and second, by providing the county with uncertified software.

If successful, the case could force Diebold to reimburse Alameda County up to three times what the county paid for the machines, providing the county with ample money to invest in a different and more secure system, re-train poll workers, and meet any other additional costs.

Diebold spokesman David Bear said the company had not been served with the lawsuit and couldn’t comment until they had.

Even with new security upgrades, said Harris, the touchscreens can—and, she asserts, probably will—repeat the “meltdown” experienced in Alameda County and across the state in the primaries last March. In San Diego County during that election, 573 of 1,038 polling places opened late because of problems with Diebold machines. In Alameda County, faulty Diebold equipment also caused major delays in voting.

Harris and March, while ultimately trying to hold Diebold responsible for what they call faulty equipment, said the suit can and should act as a stopgap in the upcoming election and allow counties an easy out.

Instead of Diebold touch screens, they say the county should rely on other vote recording and counting systems such as paper ballots run through optical scan machines, or even the old-fashioned hand count.

Currently, however, Alameda County has declined to sign onto the case. The plaintiffs are also waiting for word from officials of the State of California, which could also sign on because the state reimbursed the county for a majority of the money spent to buy the machines.

Contrary to what the plaintiffs allege, says Alameda County Registrar of Voters Brad Clark, the lawsuit should not affect the upcoming election. With November just a few months away, Alameda county’s options have been severely narrowed, limited to a choice of Diebold voting machines of one type or another. Even if the county won its money back from the company, Clark said, there would not be enough time to invest that money in another system.

The deadline to sign a contract with another touchscreen vendor passed this summer, according to Clark. At this point, the county is focusing almost all of its attention on securing firmware and software certification for the Diebold machines that should satisfy the mandates set forth by the Secretary of State.

“I don’t know if any vendor at this late date would be able to serve us,” said Clark. “I don’t anticipate that happening.”

And if the county is not able to re-certify their machines the only other option, according to Clark, are Diebold optical scan machines. Currently the county has a couple of those on hand, but would have to rush to buy enough to handle the vote.

According to Harris, March and their attorney Finley, however, the county has had the option to opt-out of the Diebold contract for months because county election officials knew about the lawsuit before it became public. The complaint was originally filed last November and was supposed to be under seal until the state of California makes its decision about whether to sign on. According to Finley, Alameda County Counsel Richard Winnie has attended closed hearings concerning the case. The case became public before the state decided because Harris and March won a special decision from the court that allowed them to unseal it.

“[Clark] may have decided in his own mind that the county is going to use Diebold, but the fact is as of today the secretary of state has decertified that equipment and has not made a decision about whether they are going to re-certify,” said Finley. “Clark has known about this litigation in his own mind before this year and could have made a decision then to take advantage of what we believe is a very strong claim.”

Finley explained that this action by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters would have allowed the county to “free itself from the grip of a company that has a very checkered history and switch to an entirely different system. To date they haven’t done that, but it doesn’t mean that it’s too late.”

About the county’s claim that it is too late to turn back, Harris said “That’s just so stupid. If they need to they can print paper ballots and hand count the whole dang thing.”

When questioned, Alameda County Counsel Winnie said the county has not closed out all their options. “We’re not proceeding completely dependent on this electronic equipment,” he said. “The time constraints are so limited and the importance is so great that we can’t afford to simply accept promises or rely on one system. We’re going to reach a conclusion in the next three or four weeks really committing ourselves to how we are going to conduct the election. We are pretty far down the road right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t switch.”

But when asked about whether Clark’s characterization of the county’s options was correct, Winnie said it was.

Both Harris and March say Clark’s actions lead them to believe that he is pushing for a touch screen system.

“Brad’s position seems to be that he wants to stick with Diebold. Why? I couldn’t tell you,” said March.

When asked about the possibility of recounting paper ballots by hand as an alternative option, Clark said that could be an option for Alameda County “if you didn’t want election results until next summer.” He also said a hand re-count is the most inaccurate way to count, especially when there are multiple items on the ballot.

Harris, in her critique of Clark’s apparent support for touchscreens, downplayed Clark’s reasons for dismissing a hand recount, saying the option is out because the county “didn’t organize in time and because [people] want to use the machines by hook or by crook.”

According to James Hale, a media relations officer for Vote Canada, which runs Canada’s national elections, Canada was able to count 13,489,559 votes by hand during the last election on June 28. The votes, cast at 58,000 polling booths, located at 18,000 polling stations in 308 electoral districts, were counted in half an hour. Unlike the upcoming Alameda county ballot, however, which will have tens of items, Canada’s only had one.

After review, the Canada performed re-counts in three different areas, affecting about a dozen of the 13 plus million votes, according to Hale.

With the deadline for submitting ballot initiatives to the county fast approaching, the City Council Tuesday chose to take one last look at the wording of three controversial measures.

In other matters the council approved new procedures for how it and some commissions handle ex parte communications, created 16 parking spaces for city parking enforcement officers, offered new money for a costly affordable housing project, and held off discussing UC’s proposed footbridge over Hearst Avenue until the fall.

The ballot initiatives would expand the rights of medical marijuana growers and distributors, make prostitution Berkeley’s lowest police priority and establish a Tree Board to regulate public trees.

A council majority opposes all three measures, but city law leaves them only two options: Approve the measures or place them on the ballot.

On Tuesday, the council had already sent the medical marijuana and prostitution measures to the voters—and was set to do the same for the tree act—when City Manager Phil Kamlarz alerted them that they can amend the short description of the initiatives voters see on their touchscreen voting machines.

“Oh, we can?” said Mayor Tom Bates.

Within a minute the council had rescinded its votes on the cannabis and prostitution initiatives and formed a subcommittee, comprised of Bates and Councilmembers Linda Maio, Dona Spring and Gordon Wozniak, to report back to the council next week, when the council must place the items on the ballot.

The cannabis initiative would erase Berkeley’s 10-plant limit for patients licensed to cultivate medical marijuana, establish a peer review committee to oversee the city’s marijuana clubs and grant by-right use permits for clubs in commercial zones. The measure on prostitution would require the City Council to lobby Sacramento to decriminalize prostitution, but according to police wouldn’t reduce the number of stings targeting prostitutes and johns even though it would make prostitution the city’s lowest police priority.

The tree ordinance would give a Tree Board power to prevent the removal of public trees except in certain circumstances, as well as license contractors engaged in public tree work.

Presumably the subcommittee will examine ways to ensure that the council’s concerns are highlighted on the ballot titles, Councilmember Kriss Worthington said.

A majority of councilmembers are concerned that the marijuana measure would deprive city control over pot clubs and increase crime, that the prostitution measure would attract more sex workers and johns, and that the Tree Board would create a costly new layer of bureaucracy.

Worthington is demanding that the subcommittee provide public notice of its meeting, so citizens are aware of its deliberations. However, Cisco DeVries, an aide to Mayor Tom Bates, said that because of tight schedules as the council approaches its final meeting next week before the summer recess, the subcommittee might just e-mail suggested ballot title changes to the city attorney.

At any point before the election, the council can vote to support or oppose the initiatives, though it can’t spend money on a campaign.

Robyn Few, director of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, and sponsor of the prostitution measure, dubbed the Angel Initiative, wasn’t surprised by the council’s action.

“They’ve been giving us a tough time from the day we started,” she said. “We’ve had to fight for everything we’ve gotten.”

The current ballot titles appear to already spell out the issues most councilmembers find objectionable. The title for the marijuana initiative, for instance, specifies that the act would grant by-right development for clubs and the tree act title shows an annual cost of $250,000 as written in the city attorney’s analysis that will be sent to all voters.

Tree Act author Elliot Cohen, along with councilmembers Spring and Worthington, contend the cost estimate and the analysis is faulty. City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said she will meet with staff members who assembled the city’s impact report on the initiative to address their concerns.

Foothill Bridge

With the city’s staff report arriving just as councilmembers sat down at their chairs Tuesday evening, the council voted to hold off a vote on the controversial Foothill Bridge until after the summer recess.

UC Berkeley is asking for an encroachment waiver from the city to suspend a bridge 21 feet over Hearst Avenue to connect two dormitories, and has signaled its willingness to pay $200,000 in mitigations and give the city final say over the bridge’s design.

But opponents argue the bridge would be one more university encroachment into neighborhoods, and wouldn’t achieve the university’s stated goal of providing access to wheelchair-using students at the Foothill housing complex.

Ex Parte Communications

In response to concerns from residents and developers, the City Council unanimously loosened restrictions on communications with interested parties to developments that city boards must ultimately approve or reject.

Previously, to safeguard due process rights, members of the City Council, the Planning Commission, the Zoning Adjustment Board, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Housing Advisory Commission were all forbidden from so much as overhearing conversations about pending projects which members could later vote on as a quasi-judicial body.

Opponents charged the system gave preferential treatment to developers and fostered a climate of mistrust.

Under the new rules, councilmembers and commissioners will be able to discuss issues with concerned parties so long as those public officials disclose those contacts and the gist of the conversations prior to the public hearing.

Parking Spaces for Parking Enforcement Officers

After public transportation advocates vehemently opposed a plan to create 21 parking spaces for city parking enforcement officers last January, the council approved a compromise plan by a vote of 7-2 (Worthington, Spring no) .

The city will designate 16 parking spaces on the east side of Martin Luther King Jr. Way next to the Ashby BART station for parking officers. The spaces, currently off limits to all cars, will be available to residents at nighttime and on weekends.

The compromise rescinds the earlier proposal that—in addition to the 16 spaces on MLK— would have given them five parking spaces on Fairview Street.

Parking enforcement officers have traditionally received free city parking at a lot at Fairview and Harper Street, but that option disappeared recently after the lot’s owner transformed the lot into an apartment complex.

Providing parking will improve morale and free up residential parking spaces where the officials now park, according to the city report approved by Police Chief Roy Meisner.

Charles Moore, the only resident to comment on the compromise plan, called it “an outrageous perk.”

Jubilee Senior Housing

The City Council voted 8-0-1 (Wozniak abstain) to grant an extra $450,000 to the planned 27-unit Jubilee Senior Homes at 2577 San Pablo Avenue. Delays and rising construction costs have caused the price of the complex to climb from $4.2 million to $6.8 million, 40 percent of which will come from the city’s housing trust fund.

With the new funding, the city’s subsidy is now at $100,000 per unit, roughly double the average subsidy.

“This will be the most expensive project per unit we’ve ever done,” said Housing Director Steve Barton.

The new funding is contingent on an expected grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. If the grant doesn’t come through, the city can force Jubilee to sell the property, valued at $350,000 to help compensate the city for its losses..›

In the lush South Berkeley Community Garden, beside the stumpy, green lemons hovering over raspberry brambles and below the dangling figs, a butterfly circles around the “for sale” sign announcing that the 17-year-old swath of vegetation at Martin Luther King Jr. Way between Russell and Oregon streets is on the market.

The good news for the 12 gardeners who farm the garden is that the real estate agent, Berkeley’s Red Oak Realty, and the trustee, Wells Fargo Bank, are giving the gardeners first shot to buy it.

The bad news: The bank is asking the market rate price, $445,000, by July 26.

Otherwise the roughly 11,000-square-foot L-shaped lot will be subdivided into two parcels, each big enough for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.

Some of the gardeners on Wednesday said that would be a bitter end to a plot that for years stuffed the stands at the Berkeley Farmers Market and served as a horticultural classroom to homeless residents hoping to learn a trade.

“This is a very spiritual place, no other community garden has such a wild feel,” said Gavin Claiborne, a South Berkeley resident who has maintained a plot for two years.

News of the sale did not come as a surprise. The gardeners knew their days were likely numbered when the plot’s owner, Weston Havens, died two years ago.

The last of an old Berkeley monied family that were early partners in the Claremont Hotel, Havens—having no heir—bequeathed the proceeds of his family’s estate to three local universities: UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, and Stanford.

“We were told two years ago it would probably be sold, but it’s hard to make contingency plans when you don’t have much money,” said Daniel Miller, executive director of Spiral Gardens, a nonprofit that runs the Community Garden along with several other gardens in Berkeley and Oakland.

Now the gardeners and some supporters are hoping to make one last ditch effort to save the tract.

Leif Aamot, a gardener, said he has received pledges from three people and plans to establish a fund to raise money.

Laurie Capitelli, a partner at Red Oak Realty and a candidate for City Council in November, said he would explore some avenues on the gardeners’ behalf. Capitelli planned to contact UC about the plot and also get in touch with a cousin of Haven’s, former Berkeley Mayor Jeffrey Shattuck Leiter, who was out of town Thursday.

“It’s going to take an angel,” Capitelli said. “Open parcels are a rare commodity in Berkeley.”

Already, he said, Red Oak has received telephone calls about the plot it listed last week, but no offers.

Wells Fargo Bank wants all bids presented to the bank by July 26, Capitelli said. He hasn’t heard from bank representatives if they would be willing to give the gardeners more time to raise money. Wells Fargo declined comment for this story.

If the garden is turned into housing, Berkeley would not have a shortage of public gardening space. The city, which several years ago became the second in the nation to incorporate public gardens into its general plan, has 25 community gardens, including public school gardens, said Karl Linn, who restored the Karl Linn gardens in North Berkeley.

Six of Berkeley’s public gardens, Linn said, are secure because they are on city-owned property; the fate of the others is less certain.

“It seems that every year you’re trying to save one garden or another,” said Miller. Two years ago, he said, a speculator purchased the garden he runs at 59th Street and San Pablo Avenue for $5,000. Miller’s group ended up buying it back for $25,000.

For years Miller ran the South Berkeley Garden through a partnership with Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), a homeless advocate group, until the group’s money woes forced Miller to go independent earlier this year.

Spiral Gardens opened a new garden last year at Sacramento and Oregon streets, which offers some spaces to homeless residents. The South Berkeley garden no longer houses a homeless education program and has morphed into a traditional communal plot where gardeners rent spaces.

Rasmussen said he never met Havens and negotiated the lease through a banker. “He told me the Havens have never sold anything as long as they’re alive so there was no risk of it being sold,” Rasmussen said.

With a long-range solution to the Gilman Street/Interstate 80 interchange stalled by the Bush administration’s refusal to approve the federal transportation bill, a Berkeley traffic engineer and CalTrans have come up with an interim solution.

Scheduled for implementation by mid-September, the plan calls for installation of new striping that will channel traffic through what now amounts to a vehicular free-for-all beneath the freeway.

Currently, Gilman has no center nor lane lines as it approaches the interchange from the east, said Peter Eakland, associate traffic engineer for the city.

Because lanes aren’t marked, cars tend to speed through the heavily traveled interchange, he said. Clearly defined lanes should decrease driver uncertainty and with it, speed.

“We’ve had quite a few comments that people feel uncomfortable with the interchange,” Eakland said.

In addition to lanes, the plan incorporates islands marked by stripes to guide cars coming off the northbound freeway into and through the intersection.

The plans also add five-foot lanes on either side of Gilman under the freeway, both to provide safe transit for cyclists and to provide greater visibility for traffic headed westbound off the freeway towards Golden Gate Fields.

“We’re trying to make it so people have a better idea of where they’re going and to provide ample room for bicycles,” Eakland said.

Because of the small scale of the project, CalTrans can provide the labor from its own staff. “Everything should be done in a month or two,” Eakland said.

The striping solution is only temporary, and the definitive fix remains the two-roundabout solution currently included in the stalled federal transportation bill.

“It seems doubtful that there will be any transportation bill before the election,” Eakland said. “The federal Department of Transportation will have been operating without a budget for a year come September. They’ve been funded only through continuing resolutions.”

Major federal transportation bills are passed every three or four years he said, and in-between funds are allocated only for projects authorized in the bills.

“The striping will make things safer by eliminating some of the weaving drivers do within the interchange because of the confusion” caused by the lack of clear indications of where they should drive, Eakland said.

The new plan does not include any traffic signals to replace the stop signs currently in place. l

With a long-range solution to the Gilman Street/Interstate 80 interchange stalled by the Bush administration’s refusal to approve the federal transportation bill, a Berkeley traffic engineer and CalTrans have come up with an interim solution.

Scheduled for implementation by mid-September, the plan calls for installation of new striping that will channel traffic through what now amounts to a vehicular free-for-all beneath the freeway.

Currently, Gilman has no center nor lane lines as it approaches the interchange from the east, said Peter Eakland, associate traffic engineer for the city.

Because lanes aren’t marked, cars tend to speed through the heavily traveled interchange, he said. Clearly defined lanes should decrease driver uncertainty and with it, speed.

“We’ve had quite a few comments that people feel uncomfortable with the interchange,” Eakland said.

In addition to lanes, the plan incorporates islands marked by stripes to guide cars coming off the northbound freeway into and through the intersection.

The plans also add five-foot lanes on either side of Gilman under the freeway, both to provide safe transit for cyclists and to provide greater visibility for traffic headed westbound off the freeway towards Golden Gate Fields.

“We’re trying to make it so people have a better idea of where they’re going and to provide ample room for bicycles,” Eakland said.

Because of the small scale of the project, CalTrans can provide the labor from its own staff. “Everything should be done in a month or two,” Eakland said.

The striping solution is only temporary, and the definitive fix remains the two-roundabout solution currently included in the stalled federal transportation bill.

“It seems doubtful that there will be any transportation bill before the election,” Eakland said. “The federal Department of Transportation will have been operating without a budget for a year come September. They’ve been funded only through continuing resolutions.”

Major federal transportation bills are passed every three or four years he said, and in-between funds are allocated only for projects authorized in the bills.

“The striping will make things safer by eliminating some of the weaving drivers do within the interchange because of the confusion” caused by the lack of clear indications of where they should drive, Eakland said.

The new plan does not include any traffic signals to replace the stop signs currently in place. l

The six women behind Berkeley-based Project Billboard will get to take their anti-war message to the streets of New York after all.

One day before the group was scheduled to go before a federal judge in the same courthouse where Martha Stewart will be sentenced Friday, Project Billboard settled their breach of contract suit with multimedia behemoth Clear Channel Spectacolor.

Last week the subsidiary of the entertainment giant that controls much of Manhattan’s top billboard space, balked at the group’s design: An American flag-patterned bomb with the caption, “Democracy Is Best Taught By Example, Not War.”

Project Billboard, which includes Alice Waters of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse and Baifang Schell, the wife of UC Berkeley journalism school dean Orville Schell, had signed a contract with Clear Channel to pay $368,000 to place the 69-feet-long, 49-feet-wide billboard atop the Mariott Marquis Hotel in Times Square from Aug. 2 through Election Day, Nov. 2.

Under the terms of the settlement, Project Billboard will now pay $299,000 for two similarly sized billboards in Times Square. One billboard will replace the bomb with a dove and the second one will be an electronic tracker of money the U.S. has spent on the Iraq war, under the caption, “Total Cost of Iraq War To Date.” The billboards will stand atop the Conde Nast building at Broadway and 42nd Street and the W Hotel at Broadway and 47th Street.

“It’s a victory for us,” Schell said. “Now we get two billboards and we’re paying less than we were before.”

Schell said her group had offered to replace the bomb with a dove, but Clear Channel was pressing them to remove the word “war” from the text, which they refused to do.

The famed Mariott Marquis, however, wouldn’t accept any variation of the sign. Hotel spokeswoman Kathleen Duffy said the chain has a final say over the messages splashed above the signature hotel and enforces a strict policy against political banners.

Clear Channel couldn’t be reached for comment on the settlement. In an earlier statement, the company charged that Project Billboard had filed suit without making a good faith effort to settle the dispute and that the company was led to believe that the group wouldn’t submit a political banner.

Deborah Rappaport, a board member of Project Billboard, said Thursday in a prepared statement that the group was impressed with the substitute options Clear Channel presented and that they “looked forward to working with [them] in the months ahead.”

Schell said the Times Square billboards would be the group’s first and they hoped to raise enough money to place more in cities across the country. She said she hasn’t spent her own money on the effort.

Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, owns 1,270 radio stations, 787,000 outdoor advertising displays, and 39 television stations, and books 125 music venues. Some company executives have been reported to have close ties to the Bush Administration. Earlier this year the company made headlines when it booted radio disc jockey Howard Stern from six of its stations.

A divided City Council voted to adopt the Arts and Cultural Plan created by the Civic Arts Commission during three years of research and public hearings.

While Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Margaret Breland wanted adoption contingent on an order to arts commissioners to amend the plan to address specific issues, their motion went down to defeat.

Arts Commission chair David Snippen and Commissioners Jos Sances, Amanda Bornstein, and Sherry Smith outlined the plan during the working session held before the regular council meeting.

Sances said artists interviewed had asked for greater city involvement in promoting the arts, and in preserving and adding to the city’s inventory of spaces for artists to live and work. Sances called the latter “a very controversial subject” over which the commission “has no real authority.”

While preserving and creating artists’ space “will require concerted efforts from many agencies,” Sances said the creation of a city cultural center would go a long way to solving the problem.

But Commissioner Bonnie Hughes rose during the brief public comment session to express her concerns about plan implementation.

“Almost all of the city arts money has been spent on the Addison Street district...and it’s time for us to turn to the rest of the community,” she said.

Hughes also wanted language in the plan that would give funding preference to smaller groups over the larger and already well-financed groups which have been receiving the lion’s share of city funds.

Bob Brockl of the West Berkeley Nexus Gallery and Collective called the plan “a-historic. We already have an arts district in West Berkeley. People driven out of San Francisco by high rents have come to West Berkeley and Oakland, but many of them have problems. The district needs help and resources are very scarce. West Berkeley needs to be encouraged and fostered.”

Mayor Tom Bates praised the plan. “Every time I see it, it gets prettier and better.” The mayor cautioned, however, that the council needed to get commission recommendations “way earlier so when we adopt our budget we have some figures” to work with.

While calling the plan a dramatic improvement from earlier versions, Worthington said it failed to address “things we repeatedly heard from artists that are the most important issues they’re struggling with...and they don’t get one word in the plan.”

First on Worthington’s list was the status of many of the city’s murals. “We need to be legalizing these fantastic murals,” he said, adding that artists also have to “go through hell” to win approval for new murals.

Second on Worthington’s list was the status of street performers, “especially musicians who have received citations and even been arrested because of new interpretations of city codes.”

The councilmember also chided the plan for its failure to address the need for building acquisition funds to provide more work space for the city’s large artistic community.

Worthington echoed Hughes’ concern that “the overwhelming majority of funding goes to one section of Berkeley—not South Berkeley or West Berkeley but downtown.” The city, he said, “needs to have a clear commitment that the next millions we spend on art don’t just go to downtown. The attitude seems to be that the arts only mean something if they’re creating more customers for downtown. The arts should be considered as something more than just an economic engine.”

Worthington also cited what he called the plan’s failure to address that fact that high rents were forcing hundreds of artists to leave the community.

Finally, the councilmember expressed concern that two drafts of the plan had been marked for distribution only to commission members and were denied to members of the public who asked for copies.

“I repeatedly asked who wrote [that],” he told councilmembers. But when he asked Snippen during the Tuesday session, he still received no answer.

“It was a totally innocent mistake,” Snippen said, adding that the draft had been posted on the commission website.

Hughes then said she had wanted the plan to incorporate a tiered grant structure. “I also kept asking if we could put together a task force to do an inventory” of citywide artist work and live/work spaces.

Bates then asked, “What about adopting it as a preliminary plan? I’m personally interested in implementation.”

Following the hearing, the plan surfaced again when it came up for adoption during the regular council session.

After Snippen formally urged adoption of the plan as submitted, a move strongly supported by Councilmember Mim Hawley, Worthington submitted a substitute motion to adopt the plan on a preliminary basis and return it to the arts panel to address the six specific issues he had raised, reporting back to the council before January.

After winning the right to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors, local cab drivers will soon vote whether or not to join the Teamsters Union Local 70.

The drivers—who operate under five different cab names, all based under Oakland’s Friendly cab company—won what many called a landmark ruling a month ago when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) national board upheld the local NLRB’s ruling that the East Bay cab drivers should be classified as employees. The win, according to the cab drivers’ lawyers, sets a precedent for other drivers across the country who have struggled with the same fight.

Under the ruling, drivers can now legally organize a union as employees, something they could not do as independent contractors.

The vote to affiliate or merge with the Teamsters should help the employees gain the experience and resources of the local, said Bob Bezemek, one of two lawyers working with the cab drivers. Berkeley City Councilmember Kriss Worthington is scheduled to act as a neutral third party to oversee and verify the vote.

Affiliation with Local 70, which represents East Bay transportation workers, could also help the cab drivers during the bargaining process. Even though the cab drivers won employee classification, the owner of Friendly cab company has refused to bargain. According to Bezemek, the company is also refusing to accept the ruling of the national NLRB. Drivers expect the NLRB to overturn the cab company’s challenge, which will land the case in a federal court of appeals. None of this, however, prevents the drivers from affiliating with the Teamsters.

While a band of neighbors determined to reduce the size of new buildings isn’t claiming victory in the battle over University Avenue, one affordable housing developer is ceding defeat.

“The neighbors against development have won,” said Todd Harvey, project manager at Jubilee Restoration. “No affordable development can go up under those rules.”

After six months of fierce debate, the Planning Commission has agreed on the framework for new zoning regulations along University Avenue. In an attempt to come closer to what was specified in the 1996 strategic plan for the avenue, on average the new zoning would reduce the size of new buildings by 25 percent—and in some locations 40 percent—from what is allowed under current zoning.

The commission is expected to approve a final draft of the plan at their July 28 meeting. After that it goes before the City Council for consideration.

“I think we’ve got it,” said Commissioner Gene Poschman, one of four members of a Planning Commission subcommittee that met four times over the past month to break a deadlock. “There are a few hang-ups, but the important thing is to get this through and give [residents] protections.”

Development along University—dormant for years—has come fast and furious recently. Five projects totaling 391 units are in the works between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and San Pablo Avenue, much to the chagrin of some neighbors. They argue the new structures are too big and bulky, don’t provide viable ground floor retail space or parking, offer little sidewalk or streetscape amenities, and—thanks to a state law that grants developers 25 percent more space for high-density projects that include low income housing—balloon well beyond zoning restrictions.

To address their concerns, the City Council asked the Planning Commission to rewrite zoning rules for University to comply with the avenue’s strategic plan approved in 1996, before the construction boom.

The strategic plan called for generous setbacks and two-story buildings along the avenue and three-story buildings on intersections designated for commercial activity, called nodes.

While the new zoning rules won’t fully implement that vision, it amounts to a substantial reduction in development capacity.

When developers utilize the state density bonus law, buildings will rise to four stories on the avenue and five stories on the nodes. On the north side of University, new buildings will require strict solar setbacks. The step down designs will reduce building capacities by 40 percent on the retail nodes and 25 percent elsewhere.

Buildings on the south side of the street will sport a box-like shape, with a required 20-foot rear set back. Developers, though, will have the option of employing a six-foot setback, planting tall trees as a barrier to adjoining properties, and removing bulk from some of the building’s upper floors.

To promote retail development, all mixed-use projects must include 30 percent of the ground floor for commercial uses. Only one quarter of the commercial space can go for office or other non retail uses. However, a developer can reduce the commercial requirement to 20 percent of the ground floor space with a permit from the Zoning Adjustment Board.

At the urging of neighbors, the subcommittee struck from the plan proposed incentives for developers to add streetscape or retail improvements. Instead, for most projects, such amenities as sidewalk corners that bulb out and pedestrian scaled lighting will be required.

Neighbors and commissioners said the subcommittee meetings, also attended by developers and architects, generated a much needed back and forth dialog. But Harvey, who attended several meetings, said they amounted to the commission’s capitulation to what he called “NIMBY” (not in my back yard) interests.

“The subcommittee went through the NIMBY’s checklist, for lack of a better term, and implemented all of their suggestions,” Harvey said. “Now the only places we can develop are San Pablo Avenue and downtown.”

Harvey said his biggest concern was the reduction in housing density. “We’ve lost a quarter of the buildings with the solar setback rules. All those units that would have been there to pay for the building aren’t there anymore,” he said.

Current Planning Manager Mark Rhoades understood Harvey’s concerns, but said his top priority was implementing the strategic plan.

“We’re hoping the standards aren’t so egregious that they stop affordable housing development,” he said. “We hope, but we’ll see.”

Chris Hudson, a for profit developer who is building a project at the corner of University and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, said it was too early to declare all new development on University dead, but added that his company would find it much more difficult to make projects work.

In all, the new zoning rules will cost the University Avenue corridor about 75 potential apartment units. Berkeley is prohibited under state law from reducing its housing capacity, but Rhoades said that new opportunity sites designated along the avenue would compensate for the capacity lost by reducing the building envelope.

Some issues remain. Ellen Lasher of Lasher’s Electronics feared that the 30 percent requirement for commercial space wouldn’t be enough for retail shops like hers to thrive. Because most University Avenue lots are narrow—the average size of lots on the retail nodes is 5,500 square feet—she doubted new developments would include substantial retail and parking spaces.

Part of the Planning Commission’s recommendation to the council will include a call for reviewing parking requirements. On University Avenue, the city requires two parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of commercial space and one parking space per 1,000 square feet of residential space.

That’s not enough parking for shops to thrive, said Kristin Leimkuhler, of Plan Berkeley, which organized avenue neighbors during the zoning debates. She is calling for the city to study the idea of placing “pocket” lots along University to encourage more car commuters to frequent University Avenue shops.

Leimkuhler is also concerned that the plan would not guarantee wide sidewalks on University and would offer more generous setbacks to neighbors living on the north side of University.

Albany police are looking for the shooter who injured a passing westbound motorist on Interstate 80 Wednesday as he drove through the city.

The victim, shot once in the head, continued on into Berkeley, where he veered off onto the Gilman Street exit before crashing to a stop in the Golden Gate Fields parking lot.

The injured man, a 19-year-old Richmond resident, was rushed to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was under treatment in the Intensive Care Unit Thursday afternoon following surgery.

Albany Police Lt. Mike McQuiston asked for the public’s help in locating the suspect’s car, “which is described as a white, late model American made vehicle, possibly a Buick Regal, with ‘spinner’ wheels, license plate unknown.”

McQuiston asked anyone with information to call his department at 525-7300.

Strongarm Robber Empties Till

A strongarm robber used the threat of force to convince a clerk to empty the till at Cal Copy on Shattuck Avenue near Virginia Street, according to Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. The bandit was described as a six-foot-tall African American male about 25 years old who was wearing a three-quarter length gray denim jacket and blue jeans.

Hard-Hatted Weenie Wagger

An irate citizen called police shortly after 3:30 p.m. Monday to report that a heavyset construction worker clad in jeans and a hard-hat apparently at work on a UC construction project on Berkeley Way near Shattuck had exposed his shortcomings.

Gang Objects to Photo, Takes Camera

After a Berkeley woman grabbed a snapshot of a dozen or so folks congregated at the corner of Sacramento Street and Ashby Avenue late Monday afternoon, one of the group expressed his objections by shoving the woman and stealing her camera.

Traffic Stop Leads to Fracas, Arrest

Berkeley police officers who made a routine traffic stop at 11:46 p.m. Monday got more than they bargained for when the driver jumped out of his car and fled on foot.

Before the 27-year-old was handcuffed, he managed to inflict minor injuries on one of his pursuers. He was charged with battery on a peace officer and interfering with officers, then later booked on an outstanding arrest warrant.

Dispute Leads to Firearm Display

A dispute between two men at the Black and White Liquor Store at Adeline Street and Ashby Avenue early Tuesday came to an abrupt end after one of the pair produced a pistol.?

The systematic, targeted disenfranchisement of large numbers of African-American Florida voters by the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush in 2000 probably cost Al Gore the election, and cost both the nation and the world a great deal more. We learn, now, that Brother Bush appears to be up to it again in preparation for the 2004 presidential vote.

To which I can only repeat the admonition of generations of black Southern grandmothers: “Mind what you stir up, boys.” To some of us, this is a bit more important than just this year’s presidential politics.

One of the most treasured documents in my family’s possession is a letter from a California historical society. “Edward West Parker is listed in the 1872 Great Register of San Francisco County Voters as having registered to vote on Apr. 15, 1870, the very first day registration under the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” the letter reads. “He listed his occupation as a bootmaker; his birthplace as Virginia… He gave his age as 54 on the date of registration.”

Edward Parker was my great-grandfather.

The folks my great-grandfather left behind in Virginia and the rest of the South had to wait a bit longer to obtain their citizenship rights. The vote was extended to Southern blacks briefly following the Civil War, then was snatched away again in the bloody American terrorist campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. Countless thousands of black citizens were jailed, murdered, or thrown off land or jobs for the simple “crime” of voting or seeking public office. Governor and U.S. Senator Ben Tillman—Pitchfork Ben—later publicly boasted that the former Confederates retook the state from blacks and white Republicans through “fraud and violence.”

Think this is ancient history? United States Senator Strom Thurmond’s father, J. William Thurmond, actively participated in those anti-black terrorist campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. One wonders what stories and lessons Senator Thurmond, the son, passed on to which willing listeners until his recent death. Trent Lott, still a United States senator, seemed to think Thurmond a national treasure, despite his long history of segregationist activity and anti-black rhetoric.

In 1965, almost a hundred years after my great-grandfather registered to vote for the first time in San Francisco, civil rights demonstrations tried to march from Selma, Alabama to the state capitol in Montgomery to protest the continued denial of black voting rights in the Southern states. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge just outside of Selma, they were met by a phalanx of Dallas County Sheriff’s deputies mounted on horses. The deputies charged the line of non-violent marchers, beating left and right with their billy clubs. I know some of the people who were on that bridge that day. One of them—a good friend, John Battiste—later told me about a fellow marcher who ever afterwards cautioned civil rights workers, “Don’t ever let them hit you in the head. Whatever you do, don’t ever let them do that.” She did not have to explain why.

The national furor over the Edmund Pettus beatings led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the enfranchisement of millions of Southern black voters. But the attacks on Southern black voting rights did not end. A year later, when black Alabamans tried to actually use that vote to put their choice of candidates into office in several Alabama counties, many were beaten and intimidated by terrorist night-riders. I worked as a poll watcher in Selma during that 1966 election, and got run from the polls by Sheriff Jim Clark, who led the Edmund Pettus attacks. No, for many of us, black disenfranchisement is not ancient history. It is living memory.

The violence against black voters and officeholders began to wane in the late 1960s, but not the desire to limit the effect of African-American voting. I remember one trick, among many, during the 1970s in Charleston, South Carolina. They used the old hand-lever voting machines in those days, and every election, without fail, one of those mechanical devices would break down in one of the big black precincts in the city on the morning of election day. It was never the same precinct, and it was never for the same reason. But like clockwork, one of those voting machines would break down each election morning, while a hundred black voters or so would stand up in line, unable to vote, waiting for the repairmen who would take forever, the voters eventually leaving so they could get to work. How many black votes were lost by this procedure? Nobody knows. How many other such procedures continue in the Southern states, down to this day? We don’t know that, either. But we can be allowed to speculate.

We do know that in the Florida Presidential elections of 2000, the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush used existing state law to purge convicted felons from the voting rolls, the “problem” being that the state “accidentally” purged many voters who didn’t happen to be convicted felons, and large numbers of those incorrectly and illegally purged Florida voters “happened” to be black.

Under great pressure from civil rights organizations, the State of Florida promised that they would not repeat those mistakes in the upcoming 2004 elections. However, just this weekend, we learned that of the 48,000 Florida citizens on the felony purge list this year, only 61 were of Hispanic origin, an anomaly only possible if Florida Hispanics did not commit crimes at the same rate as other Floridians. The Florida Secretary of State called the situation an “unintentional and unforeseen discrepancy,” totally unrelated to the fact that Florida Hispanics were far more likely to vote for President George W. Bush than would be Florida African-Americans. After the Miami Herald reported that some 2,100 ex-felons were still on the purged list even though their civil rights had been restored by the state (“many of them black Democrats,” the Herald says), the Florida felon purge list was scrapped by the state. Local counties will now decide on their who can vote in November, and who cannot. Decide well, friends.

Just like in the old civil rights days, groups of American citizens are going down to Florida, working to make sure that black Floridians keep their right to vote. For those of us who cannot make the journey, there are other options. If Florida shows—once again—that black voters are not fully welcome in their state, we might consider the option that maybe our consumer dollars should not be welcome, either. We should watch Florida carefully and, after November, tally up.

I never met my great-grandfather, Edward West Parker. But I cannot imagine that he would disapprove of such a step.›

Just this week I got turned on to the Berkeley Daily Planet’s “Berkeley This Week” page. It’s wonderful! I’ve been looking for such a thing for years. I’ve already been to four events I found in it: UN talk, butterfly habitat in Tilden, Iraq talk, and Green Party meeting. I’ll be going to an REI backpacking talk Wednesday.

I would pay money to subscribe to such a list of events. I am very grateful you provide it and I’ll tell all my friends.

Ron Schneider

•

SECTION 8

Editors, Daily Planet:

I was surprised to read in the Daily Planet this morning (“Seniors Rally for Low Income Housing,” July 13-15) that seniors wait only two years to get Section 8 housing in Berkeley. I am disabled and I have been languishing on the Section 8 waiting list in Berkeley since 1996. It would seem then that seniors have an unfair advantage when it comes to low income housing.

If you look at the actual figures and read the local regulations you will find that greater than 55 percent of low income housing in Berkeley is set aside for seniors while those over 60 make up only 13 percent of our city’s population. Thus their “demands” regarding the property at 2517 Sacramento St. appear to be designed specifically to the exclusion of the remaining low income residents of Berkeley, i.e. the single parent families, the under-employed and those with physically disabilities.

Finally, I do not understand how not building is more expensive than breaking ground and building. At best the site is costing only taxes and since Affordable Housing Associates is non-profit it is likely Berkeley has waived any tax requirements.

I would ask the Daily Planet to look into these inequities before singing the woes of Berkeley’s well cared for senior population.

Elizabeth Campos

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WHINING

Editors, Daily Planet:

In your June 29-July 2 issue, you published a lengthy diatribe by Albert Sukoff, who for 40 years has been pursuing his real estate fortune in Berkeley while continuing to whine unhappily about the political leftism he encounters in this community. Sukoff parades all the old tired stereotypes about mindless activists and dogmatic do-gooders. In this he resembles the many other conservatives in the Bay Area who whine endlessly because life here is not more like life in Crawford, Texas.

But Sukoff did distinguish himself in one respect. He said that “George Orwell allegedly posited that the problem with socialism is that it takes up too many weekday evenings.” Allegedly posited indeed. Orwell, the darling of both right and left anti-Communists, was not readily capable of such witticism. The good-natured jest that socialism took up too many evenings was made by none other than the great Oscar Wilde.

All this goes to show that Sukoff doesn’t know his Georgie from his Oscar.

Michael Parenti

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WEST BERKELEY

Editors, Daily Planet:

The plan for a housing project for the area around the West Berkeley train station is much more appropriate than many of the large scale projects planned in more residentially scaled areas of Berkeley however I’m really surprised to find that it that these plans were unveiled at the July 8 Project Area Commission meeting, since there is no mention of the project in the posted agenda for that meeting. In fact, it is only by taking a bus ride to downtown that I’m able to see an agenda for the PAC and no way to find out what was actually discussed unless I go to the Planning desk a few days before the next meeting or make an appointment to listen to the tapes. Until recently I was a member of the PAC and I’m still interested in participating in neighborhood discussions. It would be nice if there were some way to access the agenda online in time for some meaningful neighborhood dialogue. And it would be nice if the agenda could accurately note the items that are to be discussed.

Rhiannon

•

RENT CONTROL

Editors, Daily Planet:

Over the last few weeks, Rent Control Board commissioners Anderson and Kavanagh have attempted to explain why means testing is inappropriate for purposes of rent control. I’m sorry, but I’m still trying to get it straight.

Then Mr. Kavanagh wrote (June 5) that to be equitable and logically consistent, “parallel or reciprocal” means testing processes for tenants and landlords is necessary. But he then goes on to state (without explanation) that such processes would be “counterproductive and legally untenable,” despite the fact that both landlords and tenants are subject to the same state and federal income tax laws, which are based on a process of means testing.

Most recently, Mr. Kavanagh writes (June 25) that means testing is not appropriate for rent control because landlords are “private operators controlling a fixed supply of housing units.” Yet HUD, a federal agency, pays a portion of a tenant’s rent to private landlords if the tenant passes a means test and the landlord agrees to accept the federal subsidy. And don’t city zoning and building permit processes exert much more control over the supply of rental housing units in Berkeley than each individual landlord does?

Mr. Kavanagh also categorized landlords as pubic utilities, whose rates are regulated. Yet even PG&E and the phone company (when it was Pac Bell) had rate subsidy programs that used means testing. I thought that public utilities were subject to rate regulation because there were so few utilities relative to the number of utility users (i.e. a monopolistic or oligopolist market). Is Mr. Kavanagh implying that the ownership of rental property is similarly concentrated? If so, I’d appreciate if he could provide the ratio of property owners to tenants in Berkeley. I’d be surprised if this ratio were smaller than the ratio of supermarkets to supermarket shoppers in Berkeley. Yet supermarkets aren’t regulated as public utilities.

Finally, Mr. Kavanagh has cited twice that voters in “scores” of other cities in California have enacted and courts have upheld rent controls as a reason to maintain the status quo with respect to Berkeley’s rent controls. I’ve heard Republicans use a similar argument (“millions of voters in hundreds of cities nationwide voted for him, and the Supreme Court validated the election”) to support the “re-election” of the incumbent president. It seems to me that changes in both areas would be an improvement.

Instead of spending millions annually on Berkeley’s rent control bureaucracy, why not impose a city tax on landlords whose net income exceeds a certain level that would raise about the same amount of money, and use it to supplement HUD’s means-test based rental subsidies in Berkeley? It seems to me this would produce a more equitable redistribution of income than current rent controls do. Tenants who don’t need rent relief wouldn’t get it, and landlords who couldn’t afford to charge lower rents wouldn’t have to. It might help the lowest income tenants more and may even help more lower income tenants that the city’s current rent controls do. We won’t know until someone collects and analyzes the data. But as this rent subsidy tax would be based on net income, it would encourage landlords to invest in maintaining and improving their rental properties, thereby increasing the city’s property tax base, reducing projected budget deficits or property tax rates, or permitting increases in the level of city services.

So I’m still trying to get it straight. I look forward to further attempts to help me understand why means testing is inappropriate and undesirable public policy regarding rent controls in Berkeley.

Keith Winnard

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FIRE-SAFE CIGARETTES

Editors, Daily Planet:

In response to Becky O’Malley’s July 13 editorial (“California Should Adopt A Fire-Safe Cigarette Law Like New York State’s”): First off, what percentage of smokers actually start fires? Is it one tenth of one percent? Then tell Big Nanny Government to butt out! The solution to this general non-problem is very simple. Anyone who smokes, put out your cigarette before you go to sleep. Period. We don’t need to hold the manufacturers responsible for what individual consumer imbeciles do. This applies to guns and every other consumer item as well as tobacco.

You don’t like tobacco? You don’t like abortions? Don’t smoke, and don’t have one. By the way, your editorial suggestion of banning smoking shows that you haven’t learned a thing from a century of a failed drug war or Prohibition in the 1920s.

Frankly, only the Berkeley statist-collectivist mind could be this retarded. One final point, the only governmental control I ever see criticized in the Daily Planet is rent control.

So the question is, how much rental property is owned by the editors and/or their many pwogwessive friends?

Michael P. Hardesty

Oakland

•

GRAY PANTHER PROTEST

Editors, Daily Planet:

Marie Bowman clearly missed the point of the Gray Panther’s protest in her July 13 letter to the editor. The protest was not, as Bowman alleges, “to encourage the city to move ahead with construction” of Sacramento Senior Homes, but rather a protest against the lawsuit Commissioner Bowman, and the so-called Neighbors for Sensible Development, filed that has delayed the construction of 40 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors for more than two years. The city does not need encouragement “to move ahead with construction” of this project as it has already approved and funded it. What the city needs is for Bowman to stop holding the construction up in the courts. Bowman and her group are masquerading their fight against this development as a self-entitled “good faith environmental lawsuit,” but what they are really doing is abusing sound environmental law in an attempt to kill a project they simply do not want in their backyard.

This is not the first time Ms. Bowman has employed such tactics to stop an affordable housing development from being constructed in her backyard. In 1999, Bowman and her group opposed a project for disabled residents located right next door to Sacramento Senior Homes. She organized neighbors, circulated petitions, and went so far as to write letters to the Department of Housing and Urban Development asking it to withdraw its funding of the project unless it contained commercial space. The project—Dwight Way Apartments, which provides 16 homes to low-income people with disabilities—was thankfully already under construction and attempts to stop the project were unsuccessful.

Contrary to Bowman’s assertions in her letter, environmental review has been done on Sacramento Senior Homes by highly reputable environmental consultants who found “no hazardous materials,” and the city’s environmental review concluded the site was suitable for development. The Trial Court has already analyzed Bowman’s alleged environmental concerns and found the environmental review conducted by the city to be adequate. Further, although Bowman claims that the gas station is her main point of concern, this issue was not even raised when the lawsuit was initially filed, rather it was raised several months later. In other words, it is not really a concern, it is an attempt at smoke at mirrors.

Ms. Bowman claims that the Gray Panther’s are being manipulated, but it is Ms. Bowman who is manipulating sound environmental legislation in an attempt to kill this project. The fact that this is the second project she has done this to in her neighborhood speaks volumes to the true intent behind such actions. If this lawsuit is not stopped, it could cost the city up to $1.2 million dollars in increased construction costs and legal fees. The Gray Panther’s were not manipulated, they were outraged over such waste and want it to stop. It is time to drop this lawsuit.

The first paragraph of the rebuttal commentary contains the sentence, “Above all we would like to emphasize the considerable amount of support this project has.” The word “has” should have been “had.” Once some potential participants learned of the astronomical increases in costs, they have had second thoughts. I heard at least one person announce a willingness to forfeit the previously paid $2,500 feasibility fee. One property owner I know was a staunch supporter initially but changed to strong opposition because of the enormous increase in costs. Additionally, this property owner resides at the end of the district with a continuing view of existing utility lines. Where is the benefit of paying $25,000, plus years of interest on a bond measure, to this owner?

The second paragraph suggests Erna Smith believes that a “handful of neighbors” conceived the idea of utility undergrounding to be paid for by property owners. I believe Erna Smith was trying to say that a handful of neighbors had the “brainchild” to form an undergrounding district in compliance with existing law.

The rebuttal commentary did not dwell on the fact that on June 1, the City Council voted to lower the percentage of 70/30 to 60/40 for affected property owner voter approval. Only members of the Organizing Committee knew of the proposal to change. The remaining property owners learned of the change when the ballots were mailed shortly after June 1. This change is deemed arbitrary and unfair by all opponents and some supporters. Proposition 218 stipulates that a simple majority is all that is required to pass. The City Council has the prerogative to establish a higher requirement, and this was done initially by the setting of 70/30. Some supporters of undergrounding, who approve of the change to 60/40, point to the 51 percent provision of Proposition 218, as if to say that the ends justify the means.

If, as suggested in the rebuttal commentary, there is an overwhelming favorable majority, what was the need to reduce the percentage?

The reference to Erna Smith as being a partner to one of the three property owners in opposition is either a non sequitur or a suggestion that Erna Smith was not the property owner of record, and, hence, has no formal standing. Erna Smith must have plenty to say when she meets her share of expenses in whatever manner she does so.

I am the owner of record of property I share with another person, including expenses. Both of us will suffer a serious financial burden should this undergrounding go forward. This, however, is of no moment to the supporters, for some of them say I can sell and move or else, as one supporter suggested, “do the neighborly thing.” I truly do not like being asked which leg I want broken.

Rosemary Green

•

WHAT BUDGET DEFICIT?

Editors, Daily Planet:

As a Berkeley property owner I am fed up with hearing about Berkeley’s so-called budget deficit and the constant threat of cutting necessary emergency services every time the City of Berkeley needs more money.

As bad as city officials claim the Budget Deficit to be, the mayor and the City Council still OK funding for things like YMCA Memberships for city employees, councilmembers and their assistants ($260,000) and outrageous give-aways like free on-street parking spaces at the Ashby BART Station for Berkeley’s Parking Enforcement Officers. Once again Berkeley is cutting edge. We are the only city in California that expects it’s property owners to pay for programs like these.

In November when property owners are asked again to foot the bill for necessary services, let’s all remember just what services our tax dollars are paying for and who these services are really going to.

Say no to any tax increases in November.

Charles Moore

•

LET’S MOVE ON

Editors, Daily Planet:

The Gray Panthers and Raging Grannies want to thank you for your great coverage of our need to move on and build Section 8 homes for low-income seniors at 2715 Sacramento St.

We are happy to learn that Commissioner Marie Bowman has said publicly that she and her group will not continue suing if they lose again in the courts. As residents of Berkeley, we are sad that their court actions have already cost the City $750,000 in precious housing funds. If they continue suing they would drive up the City of Berkeley’s legal costs to over $1 million. It would be so much better to use this money for senior housing!

We want to say that we elders were not “manipulated” into action by anyone, as Ms. Bowman states in her column. Our members are thoughtful people who advocate for the poor and disenfranchised. The Gray Panthers have many members of advanced age who have no financial cushion to fall back on and who live in publicly funded housing. We often have people in dire need of decent, affordable housing coming into and calling our office for help, so we know first hand that there is a serious problem.

Our organization has a history of advocating for affordable senior housing. Redwood Gardens is a Section 8 residence because of the advocacy of our Panthers, Gerda Miller and Irv Rothenberg. Our aim for this rally was to shed light on the continued needs of seniors for affordable housing, and the enormous waste of time and money that these court actions have caused. The delays and legal costs represent a tragic loss in so many ways. Our members are very well aware of what we are doing, and why.

Gray Panthers are for planned development—higher density housing along the major traffic corridors, that is, multi-unit housing near good public transportation and shopping. Good public transportation and nearness to shopping will help us get rid of our need for cars. We look to the city of Ciribitu, Brazil for a model of good development. If anyone would like to see a video of this model city, please contact the Gray Panther office.

Let’s move on and get these 40 units built. They are sorely needed!

Margot Smith

Gray Panthers of the East Bay

•

DIRTY, CONSERVATIVE SECRETS

Editors, Daily Planet:

I just attended a rally for the affordable housing for seniors project at Blake and Sacramento. Supported by the Gray Panthers, Councilmembers Worthington and Maio and the songs of the Raging Grannies, we protested the five-year-long legal obstruction of this fully-funded project by a small group of neighbors.

The location is now an ugly vacant lot, next to the old Outback building. It would be an ideal place for low-income seniors, who would be the best of neighbors. A grocery and several restaurants are nearby.

It sure needs minimal parking; residents could be car-free. The site is served by the No. 9 and No. 88 bus lines, both of which go to BART stations. The No. 9 goes to Alta Bates medical facilities. A little parking for visitors and deliveries is all that would be necessary.

At the rally, one person spoke for numerous neighbors who do not oppose the project.

I was particularly surprised to hear that the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), which usually supports good things for Berkeley, has filed a court brief supporting the blocking of the project. How reactionary.

When I travel and mention that I live in Berkeley, people have heard of how “liberal” we are here. I could tell them some dirty conservative secrets, like the blocking of this housing project.

I am writing to express my deep concern and distress over your decision to cover a protest organized by Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio, a close friend of the “nonprofit” developer Ali Kashani. While Affordable Housing Associates is the real party of interest being sued, the City of Berkeley is also a party in this litigation. Linda Maio was completely out of order to try to influence the outcome of the pending lawsuit for a property in District 3 since she is the elected representative for District 1, is on the staff of one of the litigating parties, and has a conflict of interest because of her close personal relationship with Kashani, former executive director of Affordable Housing Associates.

Staging such a protest a week before an appeals hearing is, in my opinion, highly unethical. Playing into this ruse by providing extensive and misleading coverage for the developer and the City of Berkeley displayed a lack of respect for the litigating parties and the legal process. The time to cover this lawsuit will be after the hearing. The way to cover it is to take the time to investigate the facts. Failure to conduct competent research with regard to this lawsuit, pandering to sensationalism, and scapegoating involved individuals do nothing to increase the quality of journalism and serve only to diminish the caliber of reporting to mouthpiece propaganda.

This is not the only good faith environmental lawsuit against Affordable Housing Associates pending in Alameda County. These lawsuits are courageous and concerted efforts to prevent the further erosion of CEQA protections. These environmental laws were enacted to ensure the future livability and sustainability of the environment for the health and well being of all California residents. Among the issues being addressed is that of development policy with regard to affordable housing on brownfields—properties contaminated by former industrial or commercial use. Officials and lobbyists with vested interest in accelerated infill development have lobbied for, written, and managed to pass legislation that seriously diminishes many of the protections established by the Environmental Quality Act to safeguard our drinking water, air and soil. These recent laws amount to environmental racism and classism since they primarily affect poor populations living in the inner cities.

Their neighborhoods become the objects of redevelopment. Redevelopment often includes the improper use of eminent domain to raze homes in low-income neighborhoods in order to make way for housing that greatly exceeds zoning densities. To accomplish this, cities issue variances on required open space, and building setbacks. They allow residential units to be constructed that are as small as 300 square feet (Outback units are 402 square feet). In these redevelopment zones, cumulative impacts of multiple high-density projects are not considered and the inhumane size of the units is also glossed over. Laws governing senior housing permit the smallest units of any type of low-income housing. The push for excessively high density housing, along with concentrations of multiple high-density projects, violate protections enacted by the Civil Rights Act to prevent inhumane living conditions caused by excessive human crowding.

The value of former gas stations is permanently reduced in real value by at least 20 percent, particularly those registered with the State Water Quality Control Board as being leaking underground storage tank sites with no record of remediation. If at least 20 percent of a development is for those earning less than 60 percent of the median area income, new legislation makes environmental assessment and cleanup unnecessary because these sites are “exempt.” Affordable Housing Associates favors these for affordable housing development. The site at 2517 Sacramento St. is such a location. These are corner lots with two possible addresses. In order to hide the fact that these are former gas stations with a history of toxins leaching into the soil and groundwater (listed with the Water Quality Control Board as such), AHA will use the alternate address.

In 1988, and in 1990, HUD revamped its Section 8 rules to make subsidized housing more attractive to property managers. This paved the way to the perfect scam: Develop housing at public expense and then guarantee income from that housing by making as many units as possible subsidized by Section 8 project-based vouchers. If the Outback Senior Housing is built with its 40 units, Ali Kashani stands to make a small fortune, whether or not the subsidized units are filled with tenants. Kashani managed to get the Berkeley Housing Authority to issue 39 project-based vouchers on a project with 40 residential units.

Tenant based vouchers are most equitable and fair to tenants since the voucher is portable and travels with the tenant from residence to residence. A project-based voucher provides the developer/property manager with a permanent subsidy of 70 percent of the rent on each unit covered, even if those units remain empty. Project based vouchers effectively strip tenants of protections they enjoy with tenant based choice vouchers. If a tenant moves, tenants no longer have “affordable housing” since the voucher benefits the property owner, not the tenant.

The changes in CEQA, the shift in HUD regulations favoring the developer’s pocketbook over the welfare of the served low income community, and the misleading information disseminated throughout the media on the issues surrounding affordable housing development bode ill for the future of environmental justice in the inner cities, humane residential conditions for low income populations, and foster the continued abuse of public monies by developers who are no better, and, in fact, are much more dangerous than other industries who prey on the poor through excessive check cashing fees, excessive interest and penalties common with predatory lending markets, and abusive day labor pools that prey on the vulnerability of the poor.

The role of a free media is to provide truthful information on a wide range of subjects, including affordable housing development. It benefits no one to disseminate information that is inaccurate and misleading, regardless of how good it sounds or how politically in vogue it may be. The current discussion about affordable housing development and property management is highly deceptive and provides the ideal shroud behind which wealthy “nonprofit” developers, such as Affordable Housing Associates, can continue to amass their personal and corporate fortunes, undisturbed by the light of truth.

The Israeli reaction to the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion regarding the legality of the Wall (or “Separation Barrier”) was as predictable as the verdict: absolute denial of both the saliency of the judgment itself and of the ICJ’s fundamental authority to even pronounce an opinion at all. The verdict was so damaging to Israel not because it fears UN sanctions—the U.S., for one, would never permit that—but because it directly challenges Israel’s PR line: that the problem is Palestinian terrorism and not its own increasingly brutal 37-year military occupation of Palestinian lands. For years Israel has presented itself as “the only democracy in the Middle East,” a small peaceful country fallen victim to an intractable Palestinian aggressor, a normal place, like Manhattan, smitten for no fathomable reason by terrorism.

In one fell swoop the ICJ, and through it the international community, destroyed that carefully cultivated image. No, it declared in a loud and clear voice, you are not an innocent victim. You are a powerful country with overwhelming military force that is holding almost four million Palestinians in bondage with no regard whatsoever for their fundamental human rights. The wall you are building deep in the occupied West Bank constitutes a grave violation of international law, and you must be held accountable. It is not a security barrier as you would have us believe, but a political border concealing a massive land grab, effectively alienating thousands of farmers from their fields, imprisoning tens of thousands of Palestinians in walled enclaves. True, you have a right to security, but you also have a solemn obligation under the Fourth Geneva Convention to ensure the well-being of the civilian population under your control. The route of the wall is so invasive of Palestinian territory, so far from the 1967 border that constitutes your security line, so disproportionate in the balance between security for your people and repression of an entire Palestinian population that it simply cannot be justified in either security or legal terms.

In particular, the ICJ ruling challenged Israel’s presentation of itself as innocent victim merely protecting itself. This has always been Israel’s most disingenuous way of avoiding accountability for its actions. For a victim has no responsibility, cannot be held accountable. Thus Israel is the world’s fourth largest nuclear power, yet still retains the image of the poor little kid in what former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu used to call a “neighborhood of bullies.” Israel produces 10 percent of the world’s arms and is a main conduit for the arms its strategic ally, the United States, disseminates to malevolent regimes around the globe, yet it is the weak party, the victim, in its conflict with the Palestinians. Israel is an occupying power that has demolished 11,000 Palestinian homes since 1967, that has expropriated hundreds of thousands of acres of Palestinian land for its own settlements, has attacked densely populated civilian centers in cities such as Rafah, Ramallah, Jenin, Bethlehem, Nablus and Hebron with tanks, bombs, artillery, laser-guided missiles and snipers, yet evades accountability for state terrorism. Israel has an economy three times larger than Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon put together, but has created a situation where some 70 percent of the Palestinians live on less than two dollars a day, yet avoids its responsibility towards the innocent population it rules.

One word characterizes the Israeli response to both Palestinian suffering and to attempts, such as those of the UN and the ICJ, to hold Israel accountable under international law: impunity. This is easy to understand. Almost coincident with the ICJ ruling, the United States Congress voted almost unanimously (407-12) to endorse the radical change in U.S. policy induced by Bush at Sharon’s behest. Henceforth Israel will not be required to withdraw from all the territories it conquered in 1967 nor from its major settlement blocs. Against the entire corpus of international law and with absolute impunity towards Palestinian human rights, the U.S. Congress effectively recognized a new apartheid situation of Israel over Palestine.

One can say the same to both Israel and the U.S. when they complain of terrorism and a lack of security. It’s the occupation, stupid! Our only chance of bringing peace, justice, prosperity and progress to this battered world of ours is through a truly New World Order based on international law and human rights. Occupation and repression are the infrastructure of terror. This is the message of the ICJ, and we ignore it at our peril.

A flea market by any other name—bazaar, swap meet, or yard sale—will always be the ultimate example of free, or free-wheeling, enterprise. Any and all can wander along the stalls and socialize, fondle the merchandise, eat and drink, listen to music, and even shop.

The Berkeley Flea Market, held every weekend at the Ashby BART station, is special. It’s true, you can’t buy a camel there as in the Kashgar bazaar in central Asia, or a complete vintage gas pump like they offer at the swap meet in Guthrie, Oklahoma, but you can find an awesome variety of interesting objects sold by a marvelously diverse collection of vendors. Furthermore, the Berkeley flea market is a unique operation with a history rooted in Berkeley’s progressive movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Unlike a corporation operating for profit, the Berkeley Flea Market is run by Community Services United (CSU), a consortium of non-profit Berkeley organizations which receive quarterly payments out of the income generated by the flea market. The seven current member organizations each send a representative to the board of directors, which meets monthly to oversee and set policy for the market. The funds given to these organizations make it possible for them to carry out their programs in the community.

The Berkeley Flea Market started back in 1975 when some 30 community service organizations formed CSU to pool their resources and provide support for each other. At the time they were operating with government money. Then, in 1978, with the passage of Proposition 13 and then Gov. Ronald Reagan’s drastic cuts in funding for social programs, CSU member organizations found themselves desperate for funds to carry on their work. The usual sorts of fund raising activities, benefit concerts and such, often ended up costing more than they brought in.

The flea market was a brilliant idea in many ways. A few of the early activists who are still around recall the vision and its fulfillment in those early days.

Louis Freedberg was there at the beginning. He became a reporter and is now on the editorial staff of the San Francisco Chronicle. “We thought this was a rather far-fetched scheme,” Freedberg said. He recalls how alien it was to try to come up with a profit-making business venture. “We weren’t capitalists. We were just the opposite, anti-capitalists at the time.” What they lacked in experience, they made up for in enthusiasm. “Most of the labor was volunteer,” Freedberg says. “It was a labor of love.” Freedberg’s job was collecting the garbage and taking it to the dump in what he fondly recalls as La Bomba Verde—the Green Bomb—a 1952 green Chevy truck.

Making it work was “challenging,” according to Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, who acted as manager for the first few years. The mechanics of the operation were complex, and organizers had to figure everything out from scratch. “We didn’t have any road map,” Carson recalls. It took some time before the market was able to turn a profit.

There were bumpy periods. At one point BART tried to kick them out. There was a long court battle which finally granted the flea market the legal right to on ongoing lease. There followed a struggle between the CSU administration and an ad hoc vendors’ association. That, too, went through the courts, which ultimately granted CSU control of the market and dispersal of the funds to its member organizations.

The principles that motivated the founding of the market still guide its operation. One of the ideas was to offer a space for individuals and organizations to have their garage sales in one location which would attract more customers. Groups and individuals who are selling what we now call “collectibles” are still given priority in assignment of their stalls. Priority is also given to artists and craftspeople selling their own creations.

The market plays an important role in the community as a place for vendors and neighbors to gather and to socialize. Board president Lenora Moore explains that “it’s part of the community, people look forward to it, a lot of older people walk through the market. I don’t say they always spend money, but it gives them something to do on the weekend.”

Art Polk, who has been selling records and other collectibles since the market first started, lives nearby, agrees. “It’s part of my community ... (it’s) a cultural center more than a flea market.”

As an economic resource, the market has expanded beyond the community. Marty Lynch, now executive director of LifeLong Medical Care, was a representative to CSU in the early days. He recalls that “we realized that part of the benefit was really to support the underground economy of South Berkeley. A lot of people were living on the edge and this provided another venue to make a few bucks.”

Today there are many vendors offering imported items. This gives an opportunity for immigrants and refugees from other countries to earn an income and at the same time offer hand-crafted imported goods to the shoppers at reasonable prices. There is jewelry from India, wood carvings from Africa and Indonesia, exotic clothing, and lots more.

The roughly 248 stalls are fully rented out to about 150 vendors (many rent more than one stall) every non-raining Saturday and Sunday. The stall fees, which have gone from $5 to $20 over the last 25 years, are still a bargain. The income from the stall fees pays all the expenses—the BART lease, toilet rental, dumping fees, insurance, security, staff salaries and miscellaneous expenses, as well as the regular contributions to the member organizations. Market manager Errol Davis is pleased with the diversity of the people and the goods that are sold. He boasts “it’s the best flea market in the Bay Area.” And most people would agree with him.

Tales and Yarns Storytime with a reading of “Sylverter and the Magic Pebble” by William Steig at Barnes and Noble at 10:30 a.m. 644-3635.

THEATER

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “A Delicate Balance” by Edward Albee. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, through Aug 14. Tickets are $10, available from 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org

Aurora Theatre “Betrayal,” by Harold Pinter, directed by Tom Ross, at 8 p.m. and runs through August 1. Tickets are $34-$36. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Berkeley Opera “Bat Out of Hell,” a new adaptation of “Die Fledermaus” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org

The Invention of the Western Film: “Forty Guns” at 7:30 p.m. and “3:10 to Yuma” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

Old Oakland Outdoor Cinema on Washington St., between 9th and 10th Sts. Music at 5 p.m., and film, “Field of Dreams” at 8 p.m. Bring your own chairs and blankets. sponsored by the City of Oakland and the Old Oakland Historic District. 238-4734. www.filmoakland.com

READINGS AND LECTURES

Flavia Bujor, a 15-year old writer from Romania, reads from her new novel “The Prophecy of the Stones” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com

MUSIC AND DANCE

Alexis Harte Band with Four Year Bender and Beggar’s Jamboree at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $8. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org

Christie McCarthy, acoustic benefit concert, at 7:30 p.m. at 5951 College Ave., College Ave. Presbyterian Church. Donation taken for community meal. 658-3665. www.christiemccarthy.com

Due West, contemporary folk music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org

Woman’s Will “As You Like It” Shakespeare set in 1960s London, at 1 p.m. at Live Oak Park. 420-0813. www.womanswill.org

FILM

Bergman on a Summer Night: “Cries and Whispers” at 5 and 9 p.m., “Autumn Sonata” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

READINGS AND LECTURES

West Coast Live with author Jack Germond at 10 a.m. at the Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15 in advance, $18 at the door, available from 415-664-9500 or www.ticketweb.com

Roger Burbach and Jim Tarbell will discuss their new book, “Imperial Overstretch, George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire” from 5 to 7 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. www.globalalternatives.org

The Invention of the Western Film: “Thomas Ince and the Origins of the Western” at 5:30 p.m. and “Redskin” at 7:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

READINGS AND LECTURES

“Art, Memory and Survival,” John J. Neumaier, Ph.D. will discuss his personal involvement with the exhibition he co-produced with his daughter. A Holocaust survivor, Dr. Neumaier will address the life of his mother, Leonore Schwarz Neumaier, and his experience in Nazi Germany. At 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Please RSVP to 549-6950. www.magnes.org

Montuno Groove and Omeyocan in a benefit for the Women’s Cancer Clinic at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org

The Devil Makes Three, old-time and blue grass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org

David Michel-Ruddy at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com

MONDAY, JULY 19

READINGS AND LECTURES

“Vermeer in Bosnia: A Reader” collects two decades of writing by Lawrence Weschler at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com

Bill Press, nationally syndicated columnist, explains “Bush Must Go: The Top Ten Reasons why George Bush Doesn’t Deserve a Second Term” at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church. Sponsored by the Berkeley Democratic Club and Cody’s Books, this is a fundraiser for John Kerry. $15 donation suggested. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com

“Taking Art to Your Community” premiere screening at 6:45 p.m. of Oakland poet and performer Mark States’s video “Oakland Crazy” followed by discussion of how artists can take their art into the community. Sponsored by the Oakland Public Library, Lakeview Branch Library, 550 El Embarcadero. 238-7344. www.oaklandlibrary.org

Alternative Visions: “An Evening with Takahiko Iimura” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

The Berkeley Opera’s production of Bat Out of Hell, David Scott Marley’s witty English adaptation of Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, opens today (Friday) at the Julia Morgan Theater.

The original Fledermaus teased the middle class society of 19th century Vienna. Marley’s version, whose 1996 premiere was a great catch for the Berkeley Opera, transplants the scene to late 1990s Berkeley, in the midst of the dot-com boom. Marley rewrote much of the libretto while translating it, with a keen ear for snappy dialogue and adding many clever plot twists. The famous Fledermaus gala party scene is moved to a pretentious house in the Berkeley Hills, and Prince Orlovsky emerges as “Bill” Orlovsky, teenage software mogul.

Artistic Director Jon-athan Khuner conducts and Ann Woodhead directs the production. Featured singers for Bat Out of Hell are Jillian Khuner as Ros Eisenstein, Shawnette Sulker as Adela, Sonia Gariaeff as Bill Orlovsky, Martin Lewis as Gabe Eisenstein, and Jason Sarten as Harry Falke. Richard Goodman and Wayne Wong alternate as Frank, and Ross Halper and Stephen Rumph alternate as Freddy. Ms. Frosch is played by Fé Bongolan and Mr. Blind is sung by Nicolas Aliaga.

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org

Overeaters Anonymous meets every Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. Parking is free and is handicapped accessible. For information call Katherine, 525-5231.

Hayehwatha: A New Understanding of Peace on Earth at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento from 7 to 10 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 415-435-2255. www.HayehwathaInstitute.org

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of F.M “Borax” Smith Estate from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Meet at the redwood tree, corner of McKinley Ave. and Home Place East, one block off Park Boulevard. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Cost is $5 for OHA members, $10 for nonmembers. For reservations call 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234.

Eco-Makeover for Your Urban Home This one-day workshop will teach you how to conserve energy, water, and resources in ways you may never have considered, from the very simple to the more advanced. From 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Sponsored by California Youth Energy Services, Rising Sun Energy Center, Berkeley EcoHouse, and the Ecology Center. Cost is $20-$40 sliding scale. Registration required. 548-2220, ext. 233.

“Revolution” a film of a talk by Bob Avakian at 1 p.m. the Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. 848-1196.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Tasting from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Edith Stone Room of the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. If you are interested in competing, entry forms are available at the Library reference desk. Suggested donation is $5 per person, $7 per family. Funds will help buy childrens books for the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps. 526-3720.

Dance Jammies, a multi-generational dance event from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Motivity Center, 2525 8th St. Cost is $9. 832-3835.

Improv Workshop The Oakland Playhouse Improv Troupe is teaching an introduction to improv workshop from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby at MLK. Also on Sun. 595-5597.

Vocal Jazz Workshop with Richard Kalman from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. followed by jam session, at the Albany Community Center. 1249 Marin Ave. 524-9283.

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The class is taught by Rosie Linsky, who at age 72, has practiced yoga for over 40 years. Open to non-members of the club for $8 per class. For further information and to register, call Karen Ray at 848-7800.

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552.

Liberating Mother Mary workshop to learn what Mary says about herself in her famous apparitions in Mexico, Lourdes, Fatima, and Medjugorje. From noon to 4 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Donations requested. 707-874-3397.

“Boot Bush in the Bushes” Cookout/Fundraiser in Roberts Park from 1 to 4 p.m. Sponsored by the Metropolitan Greater Oakland Democratic Club. In addition to the barbecue, there will be entertainment, kids activities, and encouragement by local Democratic leaders, plus special guest appearances by George Bush and John Kerry (or unreasonable facsimiles). Cost is $25 per person, children under 12 free. Roberts Park is north of Skyline Boulevard and Joaquin Miller Road. There is a $4 per car charge for parking. For more information 531-3077.

“Independent Media in a TIme of War” a film featuring Amy Goodman at 3 p.m. at the Parkway Theatre, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Free admission. Followed by Oakland Indy video producer Jay Finneburg with his own guerilla videos. Community discussion will follow film screening.

Meet Jerry McNerney, Democratic Candidate for CD 11, Make your own sundaes, and sing-along with Laramie and Joy Crocker, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby at Claremont.

The Liquid of Life A workshop for youth and their families on water and water quality, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233.

“What You and I Must Do for Peace” a presentation by the Peace Committee of UUCB, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 525-0302.

Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at the Willard Community Peace Labyrinth, on blacktop next to the gardens at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Enter by the dirt road on Derby. Free. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the East Bay Labyrinth Project. 526-7377.

Goat Fest Meet the goats that chew the Berkeley hillsides to help prevent fires. There will be music, goats to pet, and goat-related, hands-on activities. From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science. 643-5961. www.lawrencehallofscience.org

Bike Trip to Explore Historic Oakland on the third Sunday of the month through October. Tours leave the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Fallon Sts., at 10 a.m. for a leisurely 5-mile tour on flat land. Bring bike, helmet, water and snacks. Free, but reservations required. 238-3524.

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org

Introduction to TaKeTiNa Learn a new way understand music, rhythm and yourself, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Ashkenaz Back Dance Studio, 1217 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $35. To register call 650-493-8046. www.villageheartbeat.com

Golden State Model Railroad Museum open from noon to 5 p.m. Also open on Saturdays and Friday evenings from 7 to 10 p.m. Located in the Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline Park at 900-A Dornan Drive in Pt. Richmond. Admission is $2-$3. 234-4884 or www.gsmrm.org

“Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video,” gatherings at 6:30 p.m. to hear the words of the author of “The Power of Now” at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. Donation $3. 526-9117.

MONDAY, JULY 19

The Coalition for a democratic Pacifica meeting with speakers from Pushing Limits Disability Collective at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship, corner of Cedar and Bonita.

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 1:15 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170.

Iyengar Yoga on Mondays from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $12. 528-9909.

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425.

TUESDAY, JULY 20

Berkeley Housing Authority Public Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2004 Agency Annual Plan at 6 p.m. at City Council Chambers, 2134 MLK, Jr. Way. 981-5470.

Peach Tasting An opportunity to sample, for free, all at one table, the whole sumptuous range of peach varieties at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market. Plus a comprehensive sampling of other stone fruits that are in season: nectarines, plums, pluots, and apricots. From 2 to 7 p.m. at Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way. 548-3333.

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club General Membership Meeting, 6 p.m. potluck, 7 p.m. meeting at Humanist Hall North Side of 27th St., between Telegraph and Broadway.

“Jewish Ethics and Values” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237, ext. 112.

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672 for information or check our web page, http://home.comcast.net/~teachme99/tildenwalkers

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Lisa Peterson will present information on medical and home care services at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830.

“Fahrenheit 9/11” special screening for youth age 13 and up at 11:45 a.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave. Oakland. 415-575-5551.

Gray Panthers Wednesday Night Gathering to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the UN Conference on Women. At 7 p.m. at 1403 Addison St. 548-9696.

“Death of a Shaman” a free showing of the documentary film by Fahm Saeyang and Richard Hall, at 6:30 p.m. followed by a community discussion at James Irvine Conference Center, East Bay Community Foundation, 353 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Downtown Oakland, at 12th St. BART. Sponsored by Appreciating Diversity Film Series, Piedmont League of Women Voters, and Diversityworks. 835-9227. www.diversityworks.org

Chronic Back Pain, a roundtable discussion about the different methods of treating and preventing chronic back pain. From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Rockridge Library. Beverages will be provided and you are welcome to bring your own lunch. This event is free.

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat. 548-9840.

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Prebyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. For reservations call 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. For information call Robert Flammia 524-3765.

Fun with Acting Class every Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome, no experience necessary.

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil

THURSDAY, JULY 22

Twilight Tour “Amazing Plants” A tour with a focus on the unusual and rare at 5:30 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Registration required. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

Tilden Tots A nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds each accompanied by an adult. We’ll capture and release butterflies, moths and other insects. From 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org

ONGOING

Berkeley Youth Alternative Boys Basketball Tournament will be held from July 21 through Aug. 8 at Emery High School in Emeryville. Divisions are 17 and under, 15 and under, and 12 and under. Entry fee is $200 per team with a three game guarantee. For more information call 845-9066. sports@byaonline.org

Free Summer Lunch Programs are offered to youth age 18 and under at various sites in Berkeley, including James Kenny Rec. Center, Frances Albrier Center, Strawberry Creek, Longfellow School, MLK Youth Services Center, Rosa Parks School and Washington School, Mon. - Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. until Aug. 20. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Health Dept. 981-5351.

Radio Summer Camp, four day sessions from June 4 through Sept. 6. Learn how to build and operate a community radio station. Sponsored by Radio Free Berkeley. 625-0314. www.freeradio.org

Opinion

Editorials

Sometimes, one picture is worth a thousand words. But pictures are subject to multiple interpretations, and so it seems that on certain topics when we run a picture we need to add explanatory words as well. Last week we ran a cartoon by our editorial car toonist which depicted the wall which Israel is currently erecting in Palestinian territory. It was identified as such by having the flag of Israel superimposed on it: a six-pointed star with bars above and below. A sign was tacked to the wall: “Condemned by the International Court of Justice.” It was a simple graphic representation of an actual current event which has been reported in many papers. But for a few readers (not many, thank goodness) there was something about the cartoon which seemed to imply hostility to Jewish people in general (what is commonly called anti-Semitism) rather than criticism of the policies of the current government of Israel. One caller left a message identifying himself as a Marin County lawyer, and said that he had been planning to run a weekly ad in the Daily Planet, but that he had decided not to because of the paper’s “anti-Semitism.” (Excuse me, but I don’t really believe he’d planned the ad, sorry.) A woman called after hours, hoping to leave a voice mail message, but I picked up the phone. She said that she thought the use of a religious symbol like the star was anti-Semitism, and later called again to say that she was reporting the paper to the Anti-Defamation League. The problem, which we’ve explained in this paper before, is that Israel chose to use a religious symbol on its national flag, but that doesn’t make the flag off-limits as a political symbol. The Union Jack, the British flag, incorporates a cross, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used in political cartoons.

In our newsroom we enjoy listening to an ongoing discussion between two reporters, one of whom tends to defend many of Israel’s recent political actions and the other who is critical of most of them. They’re both Jewish by heritage, of course, and I strongly suspect that each of them would be willing to argue the other’s position under the right circumstances. The more pro-government fellow once asked, in an exasperated way, why everyone cares so much about what Israel does? Good question. Why, ind eed, do so many Americans, and so many people in Berkeley in particular, care about Israel? The answer is like the one given by experienced parents when their kids want to do something because “everyone else is doing it.” We always said “no, because WE are NOT everyone else.”

For most of us around here, Jewish or not, Israel is not “everyone else.” And even, Jews are not “everyone else.” Our expectations are simply higher for Israel, and that’s a mark of respect for Israel’s history and its meaning for Jews, not of disrespect or anti-Semitic prejudice. Why do some of us criticize Israel? For the same reason we tell our kids when we think they’ve made a mistake: because we care about you.

Across the page you’ll see a graphic which a reader submitted “t o counter the cartoon on the wall being build around Israel” under the title of “one picture says it all.” This map does indeed tell a story, but like most pictures it tells different stories to different viewers. It shows a tiny Israel, symbolized by tha t same flag with the Star of David—really the only way to do it. Many much larger countries surround it, countries where the common denominator is that Islam is the majority religion. It’s the caption that says it all for me: “End the unjust Jewish occupa tion of Arab lands!” The comment seems to be intended as sarcasm, like the comment in the accompanying letter, “We are just such bullies!!!!” The implication seems to be that a tiny powerless little Israel is surrounded by big powerful Arabs.

What’s path etic about this illustration is that it represents true anti-Semitism. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines “Semitic” this way: (1) “of, relating to, or constituting a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic language family that includes Hebrew, Aramaic, A rabic, and Amharic” (2) “of, relating to, or characteristic of the Semites” and only (3) “Jewish.” We’re not the first to point out that Semitic heritage is what Arabs and Jews share. It’s what distinguishes both of them from the many other ethic groups w hich have adopted the Islamic religion. It is a form of racism to say that all Moslems are Arabs, when in fact the countries on the map, labelled by implication as “Arab lands,” are from a wide variety of non-Semitic ethnic and linguistic groups, and have many citizens whose religion is neither Islam nor Judaism. Merriam-Webster defines anti-Semitism as “hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group.” But consistency (like some other dictionaries) suggests that it’s also a form of anti-Semitism to exhibit hostility toward or discrimination against Arabs as a religious, ethnic, or racial group. Arabs are not a religious group; one of their most distinguished spokesmen, the late Edward Said, was raised as a Protesta nt Christian. Jews who circulate this graphic are doing what they criticize others for doing: acting anti-Semitic. And you could even argue that they’re being anti-Semitic in the ordinary language sense: that they’re doing something which is harmful to Je ws.

It is possible to have an intelligent, reasonable and civilized discussion about the morality and practicality of the Israeli government’s current actions in the occupied territories. We know it’s possible because we see it demonstrated in our newsroom all the time. But no one’s cause, especially Israel’s, is served by circulating ignorant racist propaganda images like the graphic on the facing page.

We must be doing something right, since we’ve gotten a bunch of letters and phone calls complaining about our profile of Livable Berkeley. The majority of them, some of which we printed, complained that the piece was too soft on the organization, which seems to be a real thorn in the side of Berkeley residents who feel that they’re living in the target zone for Smart Growth zealots. We also got a couple of complaints on the other side, from Livable Berkeley members, both of whom live in Berkeley and are employed in offshoots of the development industry.

Yes, there is an editorial position in this space on Livable Berkeley, and yes, we do our best to keep it out of the news columns. We were present at the creation of the organization, and while it had a difficult birth it seems to have matured into a normal lobbying group, quite fine as long as it adheres to truth in packaging when it pushes for its opinions to be adopted as public policy in the city of Berkeley.

Livable Berkeley got its first public exposure at a meeting in the Main Library of people who had opposed Measure P, the attempt at enacting a height limit in Berkeley. Many of the anti-P people were sincere advocates of affordable housing development, and they were persuaded that height limits would be bad for affordable housing. Others were of the doing well by doing good flavor: people who make their living building new buildings, or working for those who do. In the usual style of new organizations in Berkeley, they elected committees of one kind and another, and got into mini-brawls over mission statements. Again in a familiar Berkeley pattern, the instigators then dropped the pretense of being member-run and re-grouped as a board-directed organization with non-voting members. All normal so far, but here’s where it gets cute.

The current chair of the Livable Berkeley board, David Early, just happens to run a firm which happens to have done the much-criticized environmental impact work for UC’s latest long range development plan. And he just happens to be the boss, in his very small firm, of the spouse of the City of Berkeley’s current planning director. And the great majority of the current Livable Berkeley boardmembers just happen to have made their living from development activity one way and another. Still, it’s their right to form a lobbying group to promote their ideas—some of which, admittedly, seem goofy to us.

For example: They’ve never met a big building they don’t like. They’re over the top for Seagate’s megaplex nine-story downtown project, which many in the arts community have criticized for using a very modest arts space contribution to leverage big concessions from the city of Berkeley. They pushed the Planning Department’s original big-box University Avenue zoning proposal which neighborhood groups and PlanBerkeley.org opposed.

Also: They say they have about 100 members, some of whom live in Berkeley. It would look better if most or all lived in Berkeley, or if members were allowed to vote, or if we could find out who their members actually are.

Then there’s their spokesman: In his interview with the Daily Planet, Chairman Early seemed to be supporting the idea of 10-story buildings for North Shattuck because it’s 100 feet wide. He also suggested that people who weren’t able-bodied enough to ride bicycles could use Segways (powered scooters) instead. But it’s hard to take this stuff seriously, or to worry about it too much.

It’s the truth in packaging aspect, however, that bears continuing scrutiny. Mayor Bates appointed Chairman Early to his 10-member task force on development, though LB has fewer than 100 members, while appointing no representatives of organizations which have doubts about development, like the 1,500-member Berkeley Architectural Heritage Organization. Livable Berkeley sent a vocal representative to join the deliberations of the LPC subcommittee on revising the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, though he couldn’t vote, of course. Livable Berkeley activists have been trying to get council appointments to many commissions, and have persuaded at least one developer-funded councilmember to appoint their people. All of this is perfectly legal, or at least we think it is, but a faint aura of conflict of interest hangs over the whole picture. We would be unhappy if the city’s decision-makers allowed important decisions to be unduly influenced by the vocalizations of a well-funded, well-wired, but ultimately unrepresentative small association of interested parties like Livable Berkeley.